


Skyebound

by OddTheMotoringFox22, TheUnaccomplishedWriter



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Action, F/F, F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Humour, Interspecies, Interspecies Awkwardness, Interspecies Relationship(s), Interspecies Romance, M/M, Multi, Romance, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, Smut, We'll see what happens!, down the line, probably
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-01
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2018-12-21 10:11:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 23,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11941929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OddTheMotoringFox22/pseuds/OddTheMotoringFox22, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheUnaccomplishedWriter/pseuds/TheUnaccomplishedWriter
Summary: Jack Savage's lonely and humdrum existence as Precinct One's underrated detective is turned upside down one fateful day when an arctic vixen sits next to him for lunch. Strap in for a journey of romance, action, comedy, and whatever else we can throw in the mix in Oddly Unaccomplished Productions' first feature length fanfic! Also all art is contributed by the wonderfully talented w4g4 who you can find here: https://w4g4.tumblr.com/





	1. The Day Things Changed

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Fascinating creature](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/319608) by w4g4. 



> Hello! This is The Unaccomplished Writer here and I'm here again with my writing partner OddWilde22! So a while ago we saw this picture by w4g4 with Jack sitting on his own while Nick and Judy playfully ate at the opposite side of the table. So I just reblogged it saying "Enter Skye stage left!" thinking it would be nice for Skye to come and comfort this Dork Bun. Now OddWilde22 leapt in and, riffing of my short reblog, started a story! Naturally, I couldn't let his work die so multiple reblogs later we had a full on story!
> 
> So now Oddwilde22 and I got together and said, why don't we make this a full on fanfic? So that's what we did! We have joined forces to what is now known as Oddly Unaccomplished Productions! From a picture to a full on fic. We've both had fun writing this and have a whole lot more planned for the future! Hope you like what we've done!
> 
> Signing out! - The Unaccomplished Writer: Co-Writer and Editor of Skyebound
> 
> Hold on just a second! Don't forget about me! I'm still here just uh... not where I was yesterday. If you are wondering who this is, yup it's OddWilde22 and let me just say how much fun this journey has been so far with The Unaccomplished Writer. I originally saw his re-blog of the artwork that The Unaccomplished Writer mentioned in the paragraphs above. I originally just wanted to see if he would re-blog back as a fun little game since he basically gave me an mental cue. However it soon turned into something that we absolutely loved doing and, as it turns out, so did everyone else. Other bloggers kept pushing us to keep it going so it got us thinking and sure enough we came to only one viable conclusion: we had to make this story come to life. 
> 
> Also for all who think this is going to change as far as format goes, well you're wrong. This entire story up until now was written without knowledge of what either of us would re-blog next and it shall remain that way to a point. It's a blast just wondering and guessing each other's next moves in the story. Oh and F.Y.I, I will be writing the majority of the bits for Skye and my fantastic co-writer and chief editor will be writing the majority of the story for Jack. Not to say its a two sided coin, but we have a formula that works and why fix what isn't broken? Anyways thanks for reading and following us, we hope you enjoy and continue to follow Jack Savage and Skye Frost on their adventure that is surely to set the Zootopia fanfic world on fire. As always keep it Wilde. Odd-Out.

The monotonous electronic bleep of an iCarrot phone resounded around the tiny flat, the screen obnoxiously flashing on and off as it announced to its owner that 5:00 am had arrived. A pair of long ears twitched slightly at the irritating sound, before their owner rolled over and instinctively shut off the incessant sound.

Sitting up, Jack rubbed his eyes, trying in vain to remove the early morning groggy feeling. Going into autopilot, Jack threw his covers into a messy heap at the foot of his bed and walked through the open bedroom door into his dinky kitchenette.

Within minutes, Jack had prepared, boiled, and poured a piping hot mug of coffee and was taking his first tentative sip. Coffee wasn’t something lagomorphs usually drank, their species usually having so much energy that giving them any amount of caffeine was the equivalent of giving any other mammal a large hit of cocaine. Yet Jack, forever having to be different, needed the coffee.  

Jack remembered his first few years where he would struggle to keep his eyes open to watch TV, let alone pay attention at school. Eventually his parents took their perpetually sleepy kit to the doctors to see whether there was something preventing him from being as spritely as his siblings.

Though Jack was still tired at the time, he clearly remembered his worried mother and father looking as if they had been smacked across their faces as the coyote doctor prescribed their low energy kit some caffeine tablets. He also remembered the loud voices and speciest comments being flung at the patient canine, calling her a trickster and fraud, as they led the half awake Jack out in a huff.

After a few failed alternatives, most of them being vile herbal remedies that only made Jack feel as if he would lose his sense of taste, Jack swiped two of the illicit tablets his parents left in the medicine cabinet. Upon seeing their otherwise drained and droopy eared son bounding into the living room with all the energy of a firecracker, caffeine became an integral part of Jack’s life, though not before his parents returned to a certain coyote with bowed heads and tearful apologies which she gracefully accepted.  While Jack now preferred a bitter mug of caffeinated deliciousness, he still kept a few tablets on him just in case he started to feel low, the same coyote dutifully keeping him supplied whenever he needed.

Feeling revitalised as he downed the last dregs of his coffee, Jack quickly returned to his bedroom and donned his usual work attire. Jack admired himself in his wardrobe mirror. Admittedly it was a standard look. Sleek black suit, white shirt and black tie, but Jack thought he pulled off the look pretty well.

“Heh, I almost look like a secret agent.” Jack chuckled at the thought, before grabbing his detective badge, his phone and keys from the bedside table, before quickly heading out of his front door with a spring in his step.

After a crowded trip on the subway, Jack popped up at Precinct One in Savannah Central, bounding through the door and heading straight towards his office. Draping his jacket on the back of his chair, Jack sat himself down and booted up his computer.

While Jack had loved the atmosphere of the bullpen, in amongst his fellow officers, all readying for their assignments, Jack couldn’t deny that he preferred getting on with his own tasks and only being supervised as and when necessary. What he didn’t like however was the work he was being assigned.

Emails flooded his inbox sending him attachments, links, and instructions to complete mountains of digital and physical admin.

“Damn it,” Jack said, dragging his paws across his face. “I’m never going to finish this in a month of Sundays.”

Staring at the long list of emails, Jack resignedly clicked on the first one, silently praying that today was going to be a slow day.

Jack let his head thud against the table and he quietly groaned as the sound of yet another email hitting his inbox. No matter how quickly he completed his work, it always felt like another three admin cases fell into his lap. It wasn’t as if they were his cases either. In the two years he had been at Precinct One, Detective Jack Savage had been on precisely two cases, neither of which was he lead investigator on, or even much of an investigator. He’d pretty much been foisted upon the other detectives by DCI Longtooth so that he wouldn’t have Bogo breathing down his neck. So every once in a while Jack would be allowed a brief outing to show he was a valued part of the team before being shut back up doing everyone else’s admin. Well, that and being a part-time clock watcher.

Glancing over to the clock, Jack noticed that it had mercifully turned 12:30 to which Jack eagerly jumped out of his swivel chair, grabbed and donned his jacket, before making way over to the cafeteria.

Pushing through the large swing doors, Jack made a beeline to the counter. Grabbing a tray, Jack hopped up and filled his tray with a large dollop of carrot salad. With tray in paw, Jack made his way over to the smaller mammal section of the cafeteria. Despite now having a few more smaller mammals working with the ZPD, the smaller mammal section was still relegated to a corner of the room, a few tables directly in sight of the doors which suited Jack fine. Despite rabbits and hares being incredibly social creatures, Jack seemed to miss out on that trait as well, preferring to be alone and observe others. Despite his lack of sociability, Jack’s perceptive character had allowed him to work well as a detective, when he got the chance to. Right now though, it was only helping him mammal watch.

Seating himself down at the end of an empty table, Jack began to lazily munch at the carrot salad while regretting his lack of coffee, despite having drank a large mug not an hour before.

Two thuds across the table made the hare detective look up from his meal. A russet coloured fox and a grey rabbit, otherwise known as the famous Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps, had sat across from him on the other side of the table, a single bowl of salad placed in front of the two of them.

“Come on now Carrots,” Nick said, spearing a fork into the salad. “you know I’m right! Clawhauser _so_ fancies Buffalo Butt.”

“And I’m telling you Nick,” Judy replied as she stabbed a load of salad with her own fork. “that _you’re_ wrong. I saw him the other day with a lovely jaguar. They were holding paws and and everything! You just don’t know when to admit defeat Slick.”

“Oh contraire, my dear Fluff Ball. I’ll admit you saw Clawhauser out on a date with another mammal, but I still say that marshmallow’s heart still belongs to our one and only Chief Stick in the Mud.”

“And I still say you’re wrong.” Judy replied, taking a huge mouthful of her salad.

“Jeez Carrots, an Officer for how long and you still eat like a kit.”

“Do not!” came Judy’s garbled reply, lettuce leaves and carrot shavings sticking out her mouth.

“Oh yes, because a grown-up would _totally_ do that Carrots.” Nick laughed as Judy swallowed her leafy mouthful. “If you’re gonna eat like a kit, I might as well feed you like one.”

“Don’t you even dare Nick Wilde!” Judy threatened, pointing her fork at him as if it were a deadly weapon.

Quickly disarming her and setting the weapon aside, Nick held his lettuce laden fork up to Judy’s face.

“Come on Carrots, here comes the aeroplane!” Nick said, making aeroplane noises as he moved the fork closer.

“If you think I’m going to degrade myself to that Nick you’ve got another thi-”

Judy’s protests were cut short by sudden laughter, Nick having moved his paw under her chin and began tickling her gently with his claws. Moving swiftly, Nick pushed the salad into the laughing lagomorph who, although shocked, chewed and swallowed her airborne meal.

“You’re so dead Wilde.” Judy half-threatened.

“So, you don’t want more then?” Nick asked coyly.

“Shut up and give me food you dumb fox.”

Jack, having stopped to watch this production play out in front of him, felt a pang in his heart. It had been a while since Jack had dated anyone though dating had always felt like a hassle to Jack. Being a bit of loner didn’t help his love life but it wasn’t as if he was against finding someone. He’d even catch himself daydreaming sometimes with a future with some delightful mammal in future.

With most of his siblings married or at least engaged, Jack was one of the last of the litter yet to find a mate. His worrying parents had set him up a few times with some lovely does and even a buck or two, but nothing ever came of it. Even after coming out as inter didn’t help things. All the mammals Jack went out with were usually funny, kind, attractive, intelligent mammals. Perfect partner material. Yet they had never flicked a switch in his head to go from friendship to something more. And so Jack remained alone but content.

Now though, looking at a pair of mammals that clearly had the switched flipped to the extent of being broke off while their careers were heading in the right direction, Jack couldn’t help but feel little despondent at his sad state of affairs.

“Excuse me.”

Looking up at the unexpected voice, Jack looked up to see who had managed to sneak past his enhanced hearing so effectively. Clad in dark blue, oil stained dungarees with a turquoise shirt underneath, stood a breathtakingly beautiful vixen. Her pristine white fur stood in stark contrast to her messy attire, but she radiated elegance as if it were her natural scent. Her sapphire eyes were deep and full of understanding, as if she could see into his very being and pluck out his entire meaning from within him. Looking lower, Jack saw that her mouth was moving.

“Wait, is she talking to me? Why is she talking to me? No-one talks to me unless they have to!” Jack’s mind raged against himself. The vixen’s mouth stopped moving with not a word of it going into Jack’s mind.

“Erm, sorry, could you repeat that?” Jack said sheepishly, mentally slapping himself for not paying attention.

“May I sit with you?” the vixen repeated sonorously.

“Yes of course.” Jack said nervously as the beautiful vixen smiled at him.

The beautiful vixen sat down next to him, her elegant white tail swaying back and forth hypnotically, Jack’s eyes taking quick peeks at sensual fluffiness.

“Adorable, isn’t it?”

“Huh?!” Jack blurted, his eyes shooting back up, his cheeks turning a deep crimson at the thought of being caught peeping at her tail. 

“Those two, the fox and that bunny sitting over there. They look so happy.” The vixen said in a sweet soothing tone that made a shiver run up Jack’s spine.

 

 

Looking back over, the red fox was making aeroplane noises as he fed the giggling bunny a forkful of their shared salad. In quick succession, Jack felt a wave of relief at not being caught, another pang of jealousy towards the couple across the table, and a huge dollop of anxiety as the vixen waited for his answer while her mesmerising sapphire eyes looked down at him.

“Erm, yeah, they seem… comfortable… together.” He muttered nervously, suddenly finding his cold carrot salad incredibly interesting as made a show of stabbing at it.

The vixen could sense something different about this rabbit but she couldn’t put her paw on what it was.

“Comfortable? More like playfully in love.” The vixen pointed out with a sweet giggle, looking back at Jack whose heart had now skipped a beat.

“Yes… playfully in love” he replied, trying not to stare at this vixen he had only known for a minute.

As the vixen tore into her turkey sandwich, Jack was still watching the red fox and the euro bunny across the table, thinking about how he much he wanted something like that but better. 

His melancholy thoughts were interrupted by loud, yet satisfied, moan emanating directly beside him. Glancing back at the still nameless vixen, his eyes went wide as her as her sharp, predatory fangs sunk back into the turkey sandwich, giving another happy hum as the she swallowed the poultry’s flesh. Almost in slow motion, she licked her lips, revealing her pearly whites. Despite have grown up in Zootopia, brushing shoulders, or rather knees, with all types of predators, seeing this vixen’s teeth up close and personal set off all his alarms. His primal instincts screamed at him to make a break for the door before he joined the turkey as her next meal. Yet, he remained glued to his seat, transfixed by her teeth. Those deadly, threatening, murderous… exciting… beautiful… sensual…  _sexy_  teeth.

All thoughts of the couple across the table vanished into the ether, the world not existing for but himself and the arctic fox sitting so close to him. Jack suddenly felt as if he was burning up. He could swear steam was rising from his ears, his cheeks as hot as furnaces. And when the vixen looked over to him, flashing him a wide smile, all her fascinating fangs on full display, Jack was using every ounce of self-restraint to not launch off the chair like a rocket, powered by sheer embarrassment and lustful need.

Nervous and enchanted all at once, Jack started thinking about how he would keep the conversation alive between him and the goddess with fangs white as pearls and yet sharp as knives. He knew he had to say something but what? Then it hit him.

“A compliment.” he thought to himself.

He glanced back up in a flash to a glimmering smile. 

“I don’t know what’s whiter: your smile or your coat.” he blurted out, immediately regretting what he had just let out of his trap.

To his surprise however instead of a scoff, he heard a cute giggle from a blushing vixen whose tail was now swaying elegantly.

“I bet you say that to all the arctic foxes.” the vixen said with a coquettish grin, turning the hare such a deep shade of scarlet he could have passed for a rabbit shaped strawberry. She was enjoying the flustered bunny’s shocked look, drinking in every second, before he turned and directed all his energy to devouring his carrot salad that would even put a wolf off his meal.

“Aww… such a shy sweetie.” the vixen thought, taking in the still beet red buck. Through the expensive looking form fitting jacket and suit trousers, the vixen could see the power within him. His clothes hugging his muscles in a way that sent a jolt through her being. His grey fur, marked with those black stripes across his head and ears only served to define his chiselled features. Her eyes drifted down to his cottontail, perked up and twitching slightly, her mind only just restraining her from running her claws through the alluring soft tuft of fluff. Then his scent which, though she knew rabbit’s scents to be more subdued then a fox’s musk, he radiated something… powerful. Breathing it in like a divine fragrance, causing another hit of heat coursed through her being, the vixen shook her head quickly, freeing her head of some not so innocuous thoughts.

“So, it seems we’ve not introduced ourselves,” the vixen began, extending a paw. “I’m Skye Frost, resident ZPD mechanic. Nice to meet you.”

Jack wiped his mouth with a napkin that came in the plastic silverware package then, dusting off his paws, shook the vixen’s right paw with a firm grasp.

“How rude of me,” Jack said, embarrassed at forgetting his manners. “Detective Jack Oliver Savage and it’s an absolute pleasure to meet you Ms. Frost.” he said with a grin starting into her royal blue eyes, his heart beating as fast as a humming bird’s wings.

“The pleasure is all mine.” Skye replied, flattering her hare companion.

“Please Ms. Frost, forgive me for saying this, but you don’t really a lot of foxes working as mechanics.” Jack said cautiously, not wanting to offend the angelic fox. Slightly bewildered, Skye didn’t know what to think as all she could think of is how strong of a handshake he had and how flattering he was.

“Oh, don’t worry Mr. Savage, that’s only you and everyone else.” she chuckled, looking back into Jack’s turquoise eyes.

She had to give it to the hare though, as Skye was a little more than mildly surprised that he was taking her pawshake in his stride, not even remotely flinching, making Skye grin a little. 

Working as a mechanic on all manner and sized of vehicles, as well as keeping herself in top shape through use of the ZPD gym, Skye had more strength than mammals gave her credit for. Usually some mammal would saunter over to her, all swagger and bravado, and throw some cliché line that would make her cringe so much that it almost caused internal bleeding. But she would turn around, greet then so sweetly, then shake their paw. She didn’t even need to exert much pressure before the would-be suitor was trying to hide the pain behind their shocked and pained eyes. They’d all give her some saccharine pleasantry through gritted teeth, before skulking off, tail between their legs, nursing their wounded pride and bruised paw.

Now though, even as she squeezed a little more than usual, the hare didn’t even seem perturbed in the slightest, his smile resting easy on his muzzle. “Clearly that muscle isn’t just for show.” Skye thought, a hot flash fluttering in her chest. 

“I hope you don’t take this the wrong way either, but you don’t exactly look like the usual brand of detective.” Skye commented, releasing his paw.

“Please call me Jack and no worries. Believe it or not it’s actually an advantage being a rabbit detective. Trust me when I say… you would be surprised.” He replied with a sly grin gazing into her azure gems for eyes. Skye’s heart fluttered hearing that last sentence and she could feel herself on the brink of losing her composure as she gazed back at Jack.

Just as Skye was thinking about her next move her watch began to beep. Jack watched her as she tried to shut the annoying beeping up, pushing its buttons frantically before the incessant beeping was halted.

“Well I would love to continue this conversation but, I’ve got to get back to work. Unit 206 needs a new transfer box and I’ve got to have the old one out by the end of the day or I’ll never get home.” Skye explained as she got up from the table.

Trying to look as he knew what a transfer box was, Jack nodded as Skye stood up, popping the last bite of the turkey sandwich into her paw, swallowing it with a delighted moan. 

“I guess I’ll see you round Sherlock.” Skye said with a playful grin, before turning to walk away, giving a frisky flick of the tail that she knew would get Jack’s ear all hot and bothered.

The hare’s eyes lingered on her tail for a moment, before drinking all of her form in as she sauntered towards the door, stopping and giving a little smirk before she left, leaving him with flushed cheeks and a pounding heart.

Jack’s gaze lingered on the closed door, feeling a little empty now she was gone. But the recent memory still played in his mind. Her confidence, her charm, her strength, her undeniable beauty. Jack sat there, letting the brief moment they sat together replay in his mind.

“Hey.” came a familiar sly tone.

Startled from his thoughts, the detective looked across the tabled to find the bunny and fox beaming back over to him, the same sly, knowing look plastered across their faces.

“Oh erm... how’s it going Wilde?”

“Fine…” Nick replied in a sing-song tone. “Say Stripes, I gotta ask, did you get a look at that vixen?” Jack’s mind couldn’t help but lose itself immediately to the hypnotic memory of Skye as soon as she was mentioned. For the first time in his life he felt something… different. Yet, for all the words in the word, none of them could help him fully explain it.

He shook his head, snapping himself out of his reverie.

“Yes. Of course I did Wilde. How could I not?” he said, motioning his paws towards the shut door. Nick let out a laugh, already enjoying how easy it was to mess with Jack’s emotions.

“I know you did but, did you notice anything in particular? Like oh, I don’t know, that maybe the fact that she likes you?” he said with a sly grin, making Jacks check recolour themselves crimson.

Jack’s heart began to pound like a jackhammer in his chest. The slightest thought that that Goddess with pearl white fangs and snow-white fur had a crush on him sending him into love-struck reverie.

“You should go talk to her maybe ask her out! Ya know, like, for coffee. That’s what I did with Judy.” Nick suggested, already playing cupid on his theory that the striped rabbit had a crush on the vixen.

“C’mon Nick, leave the guy alone. We just got a call so we gotta go!” Judy urged, already out of her seat and raring to get going.

“Well Stripes I gotta get moving or Carrots will drag me with her by the tie. See ya later and don’t worry, maybe she won’t bite.” Nick said with a wink, hopping off the chair and making his way over to his beautiful bunny. But just as the couple had made their way halfway across the cafeteria, Judy suddenly doubled back, heading straight towards the hare.

“Don’t worry Jack,” Judy said, giving her fellow lagomorph a friendly punch on the arm. “Nick may not be everyone’s cup of tea but, on this stuff, he’s generally never wrong. Besides, the way I heard her heart pounding, I’m pretty sure whatever you’re feeling, it’s very,  _very_  mutual.”

With a smile, Judy dashed back over to her partner, the fox and bunny trading quips and jibes as the canteen door’s closed, leaving the lonely hare with a head full of thoughts and ears burning like a gas fire.

After a couple minutes of mulling over the idea of asking the most beautiful mammal he’d ever had the pleasure to meet out for a cup of coffee, Jack finally made up his mind.

“I’m going to do it. I’m gonna see if she’s really interested. I wonder is she a mocha or an espresso kind of gal… or maybe just a strong cup of dark roast?” He wondered to himself, finally getting up from the table, dumping his rubbish in the bin, and making his way out of the cafeteria.

The rest of the day went by in a blur of paperwork, meetings, and innocuous, boring conversations with mammals that Jack had a hard time remembering the moment they left. His thoughts were still completely wrapped up in the burning white-hot light that was Skye Frost. 

Individual images of her flitted through his mind. Her piercing blue eyes. Her wonderfully inviting smile, with those menacing yet marvellous teeth. Her ears that twitched a little when he gave her a compliment. Her paws with those wonderfully curious pads and intriguing claws. Her majestic, pure white fur, with that tail of hers that sparked thoughts that ranged from vaguely immodest to borderline pornographic. The memory of his half-baked excuses to his colleagues, concerned about his reddened face and ears, still made him cringe to think of them but even that could not stop his mind wandering back to that heavenly fox.

Finishing up the last of his paperwork Jack turned off his computer and left his cubicle, once again being one of the last to leave the building. Heading over to the locker rooms, Jack glumly thought at what lay ahead of him. Wandering back to his pokey apartment, vegging out on the sofa while lazily stuffing his face with a subpar takeaway meal yet again before crawling into bed and letting another day come where, yet again, he would be passed over for true detective work and shoved back into his pokey cubicle for another day’s drudgery.

Sure, Hopps had proved herself and, along with Wilde, were given proper cases to deal with. However, the same courtesy seemed to have passed Jack by when they were doling out assignments. He remembered back to his graduation when he had been assigned to Deerbrooke County. Although a little disappointed to be put in the country and not Zootopia itself, it had its charms and he hadn’t minded the couple of years he spent out there with his little house, fresh air, and friendly townsfolk, yet his true calling was back in Zootopia.

Although it was a hell of a lot quieter than Zootopia, he’d made a name for himself as an efficient and energetic detective, always willing to go the extra mile to solve a particular case which may have resulted in promotions being handed out like candy and him hitting detective rank while others were still waiting to be made Sergeant. It may have been because that cases in Deerbrooke were about as common as a month of Sundays but, when he got the documents through reassigning him to Precinct One in Zootopia, he had thought his talents were finally being recognised. Guess reality had other ideas for him, with his fuzzy butt still sat behind a desk, going through case files and other miscellaneous office admin for over two months. Still, Nick and Judy had made him welcome, even if they were always busy making the world a better place.

But at least there was that vixen now…

Shaking the lewder thoughts from his mind and rising blush in his cheeks, Jack hopped up and grabbed the locker room door handle. Just as he was about to open it though, the hare heard a loud crash, followed by a lot of annoyed grunts and swears, emanating from the garage. Curious, Jack hopped down and plodded off towards the kerfuffle, keen to investigate something, even if it was just Nick and Judy getting up to late night antics… again.

As Jack reached the door to the garage he heard a loud metallic clang followed by annoyed growl. Jack opened the door just enough to see a police SUV up on a lift, air hoses draped over the arms of the lift.

Then he saw her, dressed in blue overalls with a sky-blue tee shirt underneath. It was her. It was... Skye.

She was underneath the SUV making all sorts of noises with her tools usually followed by a hate filled growl. His curiosity peeked, Jack let himself in slowly and quietly closing the door behind him. As he began to observe the goddess with fangs remove bolt after bolt from beneath the 4x4. Jack wanted to get a closer look at her working, using her strong arms to break the bolts loose where her pneumatic tools were useless, Jack began to slowly make his way over to her, carefully trying not to disturb her. As Jack got closer though he let his mind wander thinking about her.

“Strength and beauty has never looked so good.” Jack thought to himself watching her work. But as he was daydreaming Jack broke his number one rule: never lose focus on the task at hand.

Without thinking Jack accidentally knocked over a small metal trash bin full of old oil rags, with it hitting the floor with a loud thunk and spilling the used rags all over the shop floor, which caught the attention of a certain vixen. Jack tried to pick them up before the tall snow-white mechanic could notice, but it was too late.

“You know, I don’t mind that you were spying on me, but knocking over a bin of oily rags that I do.” She said in an irritated tone as she stood in front of Jack looking down at him with those now icy blue eyes.

Busted, Jack knew he had to think of a quick response to get back on the vixen’s good side.

“I’m sorry I um… I was walking by and I heard a loud noise and a loud growl. I thought you might had hurt yourself.” He replied nervously.

Looking at him, Skye felt confused. On one paw, she was ticked that someone entered her shop after hours without her knowing. On the other she was flattered that her once silent observer cared enough to come check if she was okay. 

“Well thanks for looking out for me but I need to get back to work, this damn thing is the only reason I’m not at home having warm bath and a glass of wine.” Skye moaned, gesturing tiredly to the 4x4 behind her.

Jack sighed, feeling guilty about what he’d done. He got the gist from the vixen that she was not in the mood for a chat and instead got set cleaning up the mess he’d caused. Soon Jack finished picking up last of the spilled rags and wiped up all the traces of oil on the polished floor. Skye had returned to her place trying to remove the stubborn bolt from the 4x4. He couldn’t help but wonder what was holding her up from going home. Naturally Jack felt a need to help and maybe get the chance to ask her out. 

“Hey uh… Skye?” he asked nervously.

Sighing at being interrupted again, Skye looked down at the hare in front of her.

“Yes, umm…” 

“Jack. My name's Jack.” he replied, a little perturbed by the fact she forgot his name. 

“Right Jack, forgive me I’m terrible with names.” she responded holding a socket ratchet with a long extension in her right grease stained paw.

“Well… do you need a paw?” Jack asked, gesturing to the stubborn bolt.

“No, I…” Skye halted her response after gazing at Jack for just a moment. She realized that he had small enough paws and build to get into the area her own paws couldn’t reach. Even with her array of tools she couldn’t the most stubborn inaccessible bolt loose from its hole.

“Yes... would you give me a paw?” She inquired, smiling down at the grey hare.

Jack couldn’t help but become weak at the knees seeing those brilliant white fangs again. He blinked his eyes and shook his head.

“Sure, how may I assist in you getting home for your warm bath?” he said with a sly grin, cocking an eyebrow suggestively.

Skye let out a giggle. 

“Could you help me get that last bolt loose. My partners in crime is usually here to help me with stuff like this, but she's off sick and he's off on vacation so I’ve been shorthanded for the week.” 

“Sure, where’s the bolt?” 

“Top right-hand corner, it’s the only one left on the top joining the transfer box to the gearbox. I’d get it myself but the way its mounted up and with that fixed cross-member in the way I can’t get to it.” She explained, elaborating on the 4WD’s over engineered frame.

Jack looked up at her and then to 4WD. Confused to how he was supposed to get up that high. 

Skye handed him the socket ratchet.

“Well you have the ratchet go on.” she insisted.

Jack laughed. “What do you think I’m going to jump up there?” 

“Well you are a bunny I thought that’s what you do, right?” she asked with a grin showing just a flash of her fangs.

“Well yeah but…” 

Before Jack could respond Skye quickly reached down and grabbed him then put him on top of her shoulders.

“Hey whoa! what are you doing?” He said, surprised by the vixen’s quick action.

“Giving you a lift.” she replied in a matter of fact way.

“Don’t you would have a ladder or something?” Jack asked, steadying himself on her soft shoulders.

“Nope. Now look straight ahead… do you see that green dot?” She said describing the color coded bolt head.

Not knowing what he was looking at he searched for the green dot and after a few seconds spotted it in an unusually tight to reach area.

“Found it!” Jack happily exclaimed.

Jack had some knowledge of mechanics but not much. As he worked his way up into the small space to access the stubborn bolt Skye was looking up at him working his strong arms breaking the bolt loose. 

“Okay, stop. Don’t loosen it anymore just hang out on to the cross-member while I get the sky jack to lower it down.”

Jack noticed her looking at him he thought this might be another chance to impress.

“Take your time I could hang out here all night.” He said happily, hanging like a sloth from the cross-member.

Skye quickly rolled the tall jack under the transfer box to support it the put Jack back on her shoulders.

“Alright go ahead take the bolt out.” Skye said, holding the transfer box to support it.

“Right.” Jack responded.

Jack gave the bolt a couple of turns and out it came. 

Skye held on to the chunk of aluminium as she wheeled it out from under the SUV with Jack still on her shoulders to her work bench, sliding it onto the table and letting out a sigh of relief.

“Thank heavens that’s done. Now I can go home!” she exclaimed.

“This is it,” Jack thought to himself “this is when I should ask her.”

“Before you go I have two questions.” Jack asked quickly, lest he lose the moment.

“Go for it Stripes.” she stated, looking up at the dapper rabbit still on her shoulders. 

“First: could you put me down?” Jack said, starting to feel a little flustered again as her soft fur brushed against him.

“Oh, sure!” Skye replied, a little embarrassed she forgot to put him down, grabbing him off her shoulders and setting Jack back down on his own feet, blushing as she did so.  

“And the second one?” she asked feeling anxious about the next question not knowing what the handsome stud had to ask.

“Do you want to maybe… go out for a coffee or maybe a drink tomorrow night after work, seeing as it’s Friday tomorrow?” Jack said, hoping it sounded as cool as it did in his head. 

Her eyes bulged for a second, before a small smirk pulled at the corners of her lips. Jack, clearly trying to play it all suave and sophisticated, as if he were some sort of secret agent, looked anything but. His nose was twitching nervously, his eyes laced with an earnest and hopeful gleam, his ears quickly turning from a slightly embarrassed pink blush to the deepest beet red. 

“Such a nervous Nellie.” Skye thought, repressing a chuckle at the unarguably cute spectacle before her.

“Sure, sounds like fun.” Skye said, the smirk effortlessly transitioning to an easy smile.

A look of complete and utter astonishment raced across his face. All his nervous movements halted to be replaced by a jaw hanging open, eyes that were nearly bulging out of their sockets, a nose that had halted cutely mid-twitch, his previous blushing ears now stood firmly at attention. With the dazed look he was giving her, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that the million mile an hour thoughts Jack was having had come to such an almighty halt that it crashed his entire thought process. A mental blue screen of death.

Letting the lagomorph quickly reboot himself, he coughed and smoothed down his ears, trying unsuccessfully to appear more relaxed than he clearly was.

“Aweso- I mean yeah, yeah, that’s er, that’s cool. So d’you er, d’you want me to, you know, pi… pick you up after your shift if, if you want. I mean if you’re busy or whatever that’s fine, I can just-…”

“I get off shift about one tomorrow,” Skye interjected, saving Jack from his awkward fumbling. “Got a half day anyway. Even us mechanics have to take a break every now and again. You get off at five but, looking at the way you work, I’m betting that’s more like six, seven-ish isn’t it? So how about I pick you up after work?”

“Yeah, sounds… sounds good.” Jack murmured, looking as if his brain still wasn’t quite registering that this was actually happening.

“Oh, hang on a sec.”

Quickly turning on her heel, Skye sped off to a door on the far side of the garage, leaving Jack alone in the darkened room, still trying to come to grips with everything that was happening, his mind still only working at fifty-five percent capacity.

“She… she said yes.” The thought becoming more solid and and unbelievably real in his mind. “She said yes. She wants to go for a drink with me. Me? Really? The glorified admin worker? The hare holding onto the idea of being an actual detective again by a hair’s breadth? Me? This has got to be a joke. Someone’s got to be recording this for Ewetube or something. Or one of those prank shows. Oh God, she’s going to come out there with a camera crew, isn’t she? This all a big set-up! I knew it was too good to be true! I bloody kn-”

Skye suddenly reappeared from the door, walking now at a calmer pace than the near sprint she left him, hips slightly sashaying, tail wagging slightly, she gently sauntered across the otherwise empty repair space. 

Stopping in front of him, smiling as sweetly as ever, Jack was about to call her out on her elaborate ruse, wishing for this cruel joke to be over with, when he suddenly noticed the small black device in her paw.

“Sorry about that, so can you just give me your number? I’ve got a memory like a sieve so unless I put it down now I’ll never remember it.”

“You… you want my number?” Jack asked, almost incredulously.

“Well duh!” Skye commented, as if stating the obvious. “How else am I going to call this buck to tell him to get out of his cubicle and get ready!”

“Uh, sure.” 

Jack pulled his phone out of his pocket and read out his number to Skye, with Skye reading it back to make sure it was right, with only one number needing to be changed.

“Okay and… done!” Skye proclaimed, hitting the save contact button with a theatrical flourish. “I’ll text you to make sure it’s right, okay?” 

“Erm, yeah sure.” Jack said, still unsure whether the cameras were still rolling.

“Cool! Guess I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

And before Jack could say anymore Skye quickly turned and headed back to the room she been in before, Jack’s eyes drawn to her freely swinging tail before the door closed behind her.

He wasn’t sure when he had left the garage, gone to the locker rooms and changed, but by the time he had come out of autopilot mode, he was out already standing outside the revolving doors of the ZPD.

“That… that happened… right?” Jack thought.

As if to punctuate his thoughts, a sharp ping rang out from his phone. Pulling it out he saw he had one text from an unknown number. He quickly opened it, still not quite believing it could be from her.

_Hey, it’s Skye. Was beginning to think you’d never ask. See you tomorrow sweetie. :)_

“She… she’s looking forward to tomorrow.” Jack thought. “It wasn’t a set-up. She wants to see me. She wants to see me tomorrow. She wanted me to ask her. She called me sweetie! SHE CALLED ME SWEETIE!”

A few noise complaints were put in that night, several mammals all complaining about a mad hare bouncing all over the place, as if someone had poured an entire vat of coffee down his throat, yelling at the top of his tiny lungs. When asked what he was yelling, they all replied the same thing.

“SHE CALLED ME SWEETIE!!!”


	2. Thoughts and Doubts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack and Skye still have work to contend with before they can get together for their totally-not-a-date. Can they get through it without letting their nosy co-workers know about their blossoming relationship?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello once again! This is The Unaccomplished Writer here! It's been a while, hasn't it? Sorry about that. While I could go on about why we've been away the main thing is that we're back! We hope you all like the next instalment of Skyebound and please leave loads of kudos and comments! We love to get feedback from our readership! So, after a long wait, Oddly Unaccomplished Productions presents the long awaited Skyebound Chapter Two!
> 
> Hello and good morning, good afternoon or good evening to you! Odd here! It feels like it's been forever since we posted the very first chapter of this wild fanfiction in the making. It's been a very busy time for the two of us and the difference in time has gotten even bigger. Never the less we're back and here to pick up where we left off. I can't wait to see what you all think about our favorite Dork Bun and our favorite Snow White Vixen. Not to mention some new friends to help bring them together. 
> 
> Hopefully we'll be back soon and with even more fantastic Savage Frost content. 
> 
> Please let me thank my friend and colleague The Unaccomplished Writer. You really know how to help put things in order and make the readers smile and laugh. 
> 
> Please let us know what you think in the comments and leave some kudos if you like what we've come up with. 
> 
> Thanks once again for reading and Happy Shipping from the Odd Motoring Fox

The following morning Skye woke up with a spring in her step. Not only was it Friday, but it was also the day that she was meeting up with an exceedingly handsome buck. Going into the kitchen in her faded and baggy blue pyjamas, Skye poured herself a cup of piping hot Mellow Joy coffee she had pre-set to brew the night before.

Slowly sipping her mug of morning bliss, the first light of dawn filtering through her half drawn curtains, she began to revel in the feeling of being completely alert of her surroundings. Finishing off her coffee and placing the mug in the sink, Skye headed to her wardrobe to don her work clothes.

Grabbing them off hangers and out of drawers, Skye was soon dressed in her signature sky blue undershirt and dark blue dungarees, her name embossed in an elegant font on the top right pocket of the overalls.

Hurrying over to her bathroom, Skye made quick work of cleaning her fangs and gargling with some whitening mouthwash before she began to brush her fur in a distinctly ‘that’ll do’ fashion.

“No point when I have to do it all again later.” Skye reason as she walked back into her bedroom. Looking at herself in her wall length mirror Skye allowed herself a vain smile before giving her fur a final tidy, running her paws over her head and down her neck and chest.

“Okay Skye, this it. Today’s going to be a good day. Nothing is going to bring you down today, not even a blasted transfer box. Oh no, today you’ve got this!”

Giving herself a last look in the mirror, Skye went to grab the keys to her favourite car off the worn bedside dresser but stopped short, her paw hovering over the keyring.

“I probably shouldn’t go all out on our first get together. I don’t want to give Jack the wrong impression. It’s just a friendly drink, anyway. Just a vixen and a hare going out for a casual get together. Or is this how hares court other mammals? He did ask me out first which is just weird… and incredibly sweet. Anyway, whatever this is, it’s not the make any moves. At least, not yet.”

With that lustful thought, she restrained herself and instead grabbed the keys to her Toyota Tacoma. Quickly locking her apartment door and heading down to her underground garage, Skye walked towards her two vehicles. She walked slowly past the black canvas covered vehicle before shaking her head and hopping into her silver 4wd pickup. Turning the key in the ignition and pressing the start button, Skye headed off to work, her mind already eager for it to be over.

Parking near the shop entrance, Skye was barely through the door before she was tackled to the ground by a brown and white blur.

“Hey Skye!” came a familiar excited voice.

“Hello Amy!” Skye happily replied, looking down at the impulsive raccoon who was currently pinning her in a rib crushing hug.

“Hey Skye.” came the gruffer but still relatively happy greeting from the timber wolf across the shop.

“Hey to you too, Arnold.” Skye smiled in reply, earning a smirk from Arnold as he watched the vixen disentangle herself from Amy’s clingy paws.

While Arnold was more reserved than the restless raccoon, Skye could tell they were both excited to be back at work. Amy had been out sick for a few days and Arnold had just returned from a couple of vacation days. Yet, even though they were glad to be back at work, their enthusiasm paled in comparison to Skye’s sunny attitude. With a spring in her step and humming cheerfully her tail swished happy and carefree.

“Well, well, well! Somebody’s in a good mood.” Amy cooed at the cheerful vixen.

“Well it is Friday, and a half day for me as well, so why wouldn’t I be in a good mood?” Skye replied as she clocked herself in. With Amy following hot on her heels, they both headed towards the job she and Jack had been working last night.

“Well I guess that’s true, you lucky-, oh come on!”

Letting out an angry moan, Amy sullenly walked over to yet another of her most hated cruisers that required her ‘special talent’.

“Seriously? Again with this thing?!” she grumbled, staring at the car on the lift. “That’s the fourth transfer box I’ve had to do in the last three months! Damn Discovery’s. I wish they would just can the whole lot of these stupid things.”

As Amy began to prepare a new transfer box to be installed on the car, Skye laughed.

“Yeah, but no need to worry about it now. It’s all fixed and ready to go. I’ll admit that it was a royal pain in our asses last night, though. I know what you mean now about these bloody things. I’ll file a report later and see what can be done.”

“Thank you!” Amy cried, wrapping the vixen in a quick, tight hug before heading back to the cruiser.

“Our asses?” Arnold queried, his ears perking up as he gathered his tools to start on a new work order.  “I thought it was just you this week while we were out? You know, aside from the trainees.”

“Our asses? Oh sorry, I had the radio on to keep me from going insane on my lonesome. It’s good company in the dead of night. It gives me some intelligent conversation that _some_ mammals just can’t provide.” Skye replied nonchalantly.

“Oh, well In just thought you might have brought a tod down here or something,” Arnold replied, ignoring Skye’s comment. “You were all on your own for a week.”

“Al, please,” Skye rebuffed. “Have you _ever_ seen me with _any_ mammal in here that doesn’t work here already?”

“Well, there could always be a first. Besides, you were talking to a radio. Who know what you could do?”

“Hey, don’t bring Marconi into this! And anyway, I can tell you, paw on heart, that no tod was here while you were gone. So stop worrying you’re fuzzbutt about it and do some work. You missed enough with you being off anyway!”

“Alright, alright. I hear you loud and clear. And just to be clear, I had to take the missus to a doctor’s appointment remember? So, I thought I’d use some unused vacation days while I was at it which _you_ approved of by the way Miss Boss Fox.” Arnold answered as he fumbled around his disorganized tool box.

“Oh yeah, that’s right. Funny, I don’t usually forget things like that.” Skye replied as she poured the fresh lubricating oil into the new transfer box. “But then again it’s only you so…”

Arnold gave the vixen a mock scowl, she giving a cool smile in return. It was over in a matter of seconds, Arnold letting out a low chuckle, shaking his head dismissively and turning back to his work.

“All bark and no bite.” she thought to herself as she watched Arnold busy himself with his tools.

“So Amy,” Skye said, returning her attention to the Discovery. “Do you fancy giving me a hand putting this wretched thing back together so we can get on with the day? I don’t want to be here any longer than I have to be.”

“Fine, I’ll help,” she groaned, dragging her paws across her face. “The sooner we get rid of this thing, the better!”

“Oh, quit moaning. You’re starting sound like Arnold on Mondays.”

“Hey!” Arnold shot back, his head popping up from his toolbox.

“What? You know she’s right.” Amy said as she went to grab her gloves.

“Just because my mug says it doesn’t mean it’s true.” Arnold argued as he held a ‘I Hate Mondays’ mug with the remnants of a cartoon etched on it.

“So what day do you hate?” Amy asked, heading back over to Skye.

“All of ‘em.”

“There’s the Arnold we know and put up with!” Skye laughed.

Skye sat the new transfer box onto the skyjack and moved it under the 4x4. Amy, who thought to grab her ladder, followed close behind her. Before you could say ‘Good Morning Zootopia’ the transfer box was mounted and ready to have all the miscellaneous wires and fittings re-connected. After the final checks were done, Skye and Amy collected all their tools and returned them to their rightful places before lowering the Discovery back onto the shop floor. After making sure that everything was working properly with the car, other than the police scanner’s occasional odd static, Skye pulled the car outside the small parking lot behind the shop to be picked up by its assigned officers.

With that done, Skye went through the ZPD’s parking entrance so she could quickly nip back to the shop from the side entrance. As she hurried through the ZPD lobby, Skye caught a new, yet familiar, scent. Looking up, Skye saw Jack was standing outside of his office. He stood there, eyes closed, breathing slowly but calmly. He may have been far away, but she could sense it as clearly if he were right beside her. A slight grin came over her muzzle, her ears fluttered like a butterfly and a chill went up her spine.

“Keep it together Skye, you’ll see him tonight.” she said to herself as she walked out of the sight of the strong hare and back towards the shop.

“I wonder what he’s going to wear? What will I wear?” Skye thought, unable to keep her mind off him for too long.

As she mulled over whether she should wear something casual or conservative, or maybe even something sporty or stylish, Skye realised two incontrovertible facts. First: she had no clue what to wear. Second: she knew there was one mammal who absolutely would.

“Amy.” She breathed, already dreading the lies she was going to have to weave to her best friend.

Pushing through the door to the garage, Skye went over to her tiny office to see which work order was needing her attention. Seeing that it was already in progress, as Amy already had the cruiser on the lift ready to change out a front CV shaft, Skye took a deep breath.

“Best get this over with.” Skye thought, as she left her desk and made her way over to Amy.

“Hey, starting without me?” Skye asked with a chuckle.

“Yeah well, I got tired of listening to Arnold moan about some bet he lost.”

“Oh yeah, what’d he bet on?”

“He and some of the officers had a bet about those two officers. You know, the famous ones?”

“Hopps and Wilde?” Skye said, her interest perking up.

“I think so. Yeah… yeah! It was Wilde and Hopps! Anyway, they bet that they would be a couple within a year.” Amy said, getting very animated as she did.

“So what’s Arnold moaning about then? Anyone with half a brain could see they were pining after each other.”

“Well looks like our wolf’s one of the half-brained then.” Amy laughed.

“Seriously?! How’d the hell did he not see it?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Amy giggled as she removed the brake calliper. “That guy has no concept of love. How the hell he got married I have no idea.”

“A puzzle for the ages!” Skye snickered. “But yeah, they do make a cute couple, don’t they?”

“Yeah, they are cute together,” Amy replied moving on to the next piece of the mechanical puzzle. “Just don’t tell Hopps I said that.”

“Speaking couples,” Skye tentatively began. “Lizzie from Precinct Six is going on a date tonight with this handsome lion she won’t stop talking about. Seriously, she could give Clawhauser a run for his money on how much she can gossip about a mammal’s love life.”

“I find that hard to believe. Did you see how happy he was when Nick and Judy finally admitted their love for one another? I thought I was going to need new eardrums after that squeal.”

“Oh God, yeah. You could hear him halfway across the city! Anyway, she wouldn’t stop asking me what she should wear and I told her I don’t know. It’s not as if I go on many dates.”

“Lizzie, Lizzie…” Amy muttered to herself, the pages of her mental gossip dossier turning furiously. “Oh Lizzie! The snow leopardess, right?”

“Yeah, she’s really excited about this guy but she doesn’t want to come across as too-”

“Desperate?”

“I think more of a show off was how she put it.”

“Oh… so desperate then?”

“If you want to put it like that,” Skye said through gritted teeth, a blush forming on her muzzle. “They’re only meeting up for a casual get together but she isn’t sure how to get the message that she’s interested across without looking too…”

“Desperate?”

“Yes! Fine! Whatever.” Skye admitted. “She asked me for some advice on how to look casual but still look, you know…”

“Sexy?”

“Ye-yeah. Do you think you can give me some advice? So I can tell her when I see her, of course.”

“Hmm… let me see. Something casual for a snow leopardess? Well nothing white, that’s for sure! She wouldn’t want to look like she’s going starkers on her first date! Honestly, a nice pair of jeans and a bright top would do the trick. I would say a skirt but I think that might be later date territory. Tell her not to wear anything dark for the shirt. Something bright that compliments her fur. Respectable but a little revealing in the right places. Nothing showy. Just to give the guy something to think about. But the right pair of dark blue jeans on her? A nice snug fit as well? They’d show her legs off something fierce! Second date guaranteed on the trousers alone!”

Imagining herself in the ensemble, as well as picturing the flustered hare’s face, Skye felt confident that she could pull it off.

“Yeah, that would look great. Maybe a nice belt to go with it, too.” Skye pondered openly.

Amy cocked an eyebrow.

“Yeah, that would work quite nicely.” Amy agreed, a playful grin crossing her face.  “That would be great along with that too and maybe some earrings.”

“I don’t know,” Skye said nervously, unconsciously touching her ears. “I’ll have to ask and see what she thinks.”

“Hmm, okay.” Amy said in a sing-song tone. “Just tell _Lizzie_ to message me. I might be able to give her a few more pointers.”

“I will. Thanks Amy.” Skye said, before turning tail and heading back to her office to grab another work order.

“Although that is a bit strange,” Amy called out to her. “Why would Lizzie ask you for fashion advice? I mean, I’m the one who knows how to rock an outfit. I hardly see you out of anything that isn’t worn and scruffy.”

“I have no idea to be honest,” Skye replied with a hint of nervousness. “I told her to ask you but she just kept pestering me. She’ll probably end up asking you anyway so it’s better to get the same idea twice so she’ll end up doing it, right?”

“Skye,” Amy said, getting bored of the charade. “You know you can tell me if you’ve got someone you like? I know Arnold seems to have a stick up his ass about you bringing a tod, or anyone, down here but to hell with what Arnold thinks! He’s always an ass anyway, no matter whether you’re doing something good or bad.”

Placing a paw on her shoulder, she lowered her tone and looked directly into the vixen’s eyes.

“Seriously, if something’s bugging you, you can talk to me. You know that, right?”

“Yeah, I know. Trust me when I say nothing is bugging me.” Skye said, placing a paw on top of the raccoon’s. “It means a lot that you said that to me Amy. And, believe me, if something is bugging me you’ll be the first to know. It’s just been a long week on my lonesome. I’m tired and I just want out of here so I can enjoy my evening off. Anyway, I’m just going to grab some fresh air.”

“Where’s she going?” Arnold asked as he rolled out from underneath one of the cruisers, seeing Skye head towards the door looking a little perturbed.

“To get some fresh air,” Amy said, a little confused but knowing better than to tell Arnold. “She’s not herself today, is she?”

“Maybe she Irished up her coffee today? Who knows.” Arnold said as he grabbed his cigarettes off the top of his tool box.

“I don’t know. Hey! I thought you said you quit smoking those!” Amy yelled, stopping Arnold from igniting his lighter.

“Alright! Jeez! God, you sound just like my wife.” he replied, a little embarrassed at the earnest reproach from the little raccoon.

“Wouldn’t know, never met her.”

“And for your sake you’d best keep it that way. See ya in a few minutes.” the wolf said as the door closed behind him, leaving Amy alone in the shop with just a couple of trainees who were changing oil and waxing some new cruisers.

As Amy started up another job, she couldn’t get the cloud of suspicion to clear from her mind.

“There’s no way, right?” Amy pondered. “This is Skye we’re talking about? Scourge of lustful mammals? Rejecter of suitors? Could she really have a tod or someone she’s not told me about? I mean, anything’s possible. Even for Skye…”

At that moment, a considerably calmer Skye walked back in with a determined expression. She headed straight to her office, not even looking at Amy, before shutting the door behind her and attacking the paperwork on her desk.

“Well, guess there are ways to check.” Amy thought, as she busied herself with her repairs.

As time passed, and Skye finally emerging from the office to work on a cruiser, Amy decided now was the time.

“Hey Skye!” Amy called out.

“Yeah?” Skye yelled back, popping her head up from the hood of the cruiser she was now working on.

“I know you’ve had a bit of a hard week so why don’t you come out with me tonight? I’m playing pool with a few friend’s tonight. I could use a good teammate and with you I’m sure I could win a few bucks off them.”

“I told you to stop betting on pool!” Skye shouted, her tone turning serious.

“I have! I have!” Amy waved her paws defensively. “It was a joke Skye, seriously! It’s just a friendly game with some of my old friends. Down at _The Claw and Bone_. Anyway, are you in? It’ll be a laugh! Just the greatest mammals in Zootopia having a good time. What do you say? I’ll even get the first round in!”

“It does sound good,” Skye chuckled. “But as attractive as that sounds, I think I might just take a night to myself. Get a bath going then order a takeaway and zone out in front of the TV. Just have some me time that isn’t work.”

“That’s fine! That sounds great! Just the two of us chilling at the Skye Pad! I’ll get the pizzas and we can just-”

“Amy,” Skye said forcefully. “Drop it. I want to be alone tonight.”

Amy recoiled, a hurt looking crossing her face. The vixen seemed to realise and her angered look quickly dropped like a hot plate.

“I’m sorry Amy. I didn’t mean to say that. Of course I’d love to hang out with you. More than anyone else. You’re still my best friend.”

“Bestest friend.” Amy corrected.

“Bestest friend. Any other day I would bite your paw off with an offer like that. But, just not tonight. How about tomorrow? We can go for a drink or something? My treat?”

“Hmm… well since you put it like that, I guess have no choice but to graciously accept your offer.”

“How very kind of you.”

Putting on a pompous air, Amy replied, “Yes, it is, isn’t it?”

With Amy looking so puff up, privileged and ridiculous, both the vixen and the raccoon could not contain their laughter for long, both howling until tears formed.

“Knock it off you two!” Arnold growled as he worked on his cruiser, finally stilling the smaller mammals as they finally got back to work.

“Okay, something is definitely going on,” Amy thought as she pretended to busy herself with work. “There is no way that she turns down spending time with me. Twice! Oh Skye, you are in so much trouble when I find out what my little vixen is hiding!”

Looking up, Amy saw Skye had already finished her work and was sorting a few things out in her office.

“Oh, you off then?”

“Yeah, I think I’ve done all I can do for today. Besides it’s noon and I would only be here for a half hour after lunch anyway so there really isn’t much I could get done.” Skye said as she clocked out.

“Sorry again about earlier but I’ll see you Saturday!”

“Alright then. I’ll see you then!” Amy yelled as Skye headed out, the door closing behind her flicking tail.

“Oh, I am so getting to the bottom of this!” Amy chuckled to herself, before setting down her tools and heading off for an early lunch.

\------

While Skye’s day had gotten off to a relatively peaceful start, the same could not be said of a certain striped hare. It had not been helped by the fact that Jack had not slept a wink the night before. A single word kept playing and replaying in his mind which kept his eyes open and a goofy smile plastered on his small muzzle.

“She called me sweetie.” he whispered into the night, the wild cries of unparalleled jubilation having simmered down to quiet confirmation. Occasionally Jack would reach out across to his bedside table and grab his phone, re-reading the text to reconfirm that this wasn’t a joke but was very real. Skye had been waiting for him to ask her out. Skye wanted to see him tomorrow. Skye had called him a sweetie. His face burned up at the realisation each time, a blush rising to the tips of his ears, and was sleep put off once again.

It was only when morning broke that his unprecedented high was replaced by the debilitating low of sleep deprivation. Dragging himself into his kitchenette, heavy bags sagging under his eyes, Jack fumbled around his kitchen cupboards.

“C’mon, I know I put you in here.” he grumbled, pawing around at the back of his cupboard, pulling out cans and jars before putting them back with a disgruntled moan.

“Come on! Just give me one jar! I’ll even take some granules at this point!” Jack pleaded, pulling out the last jar. Looking down at the old and dusty jar, a tired Kangacoffee logo smiled back at him.

“When did I buy this?” he thought, before his already heavily dropping eyelids and loud yawn pushed health concerns out of his mind.

Having boiled the kettle, Jack spooned two heaping teaspoons of the grey mass into his mug before filling the bug to the brim.

“Please taste nicer than you look.” he bargained as he slowly raised the mug to his lips and, against his better judgement, took a massive swig.

Walking towards the subway station, a duffel bag filled with casual clothes in tow, Jack’s buckteeth tried in vain to eradicate the vile taste from his tongue.

“I probably need another mint,” he thought before giving his breathe another tentative smell, the familiar heat of near vomit sticking in his throat infecting his nose. “Or ten. God, I am never buying that crap again.”

While he could at least be thankful for his supply of caffeine pills, it could only do so much to alleviate his sleep deprived state on top of his already inherent low energy. Popping another tablet in his mouth, Jack looked in his container.

“Three left,” the hare internally grumbled. “Best save these until I get some more from the doctors.”

Closing the case and stuffing it back in his jacket pocket, Jack made his way down to the subway, quickly got through the turnstile, and hopped onto the cramped train.

Being small had its advantages sometimes. Hide and Seek was easy, elephant sized sweets lasted months, most mammals never noticed you sneaking into adult rated films, and there was always somewhere to sit on the train. Hoping to find somewhere hare sized to sit, Jack quickly surveying the jampacked carriage for a free space.

But there was none. Every square inch seemed to be taken up by another mammal’s body mass. Jack tilted hid head back and let out a long sigh, before his tired eyes shot open.

“Oh, that’s perfect.” Jack thought, a grin forming on his face.

Making sure to judge his leap correctly, Jack bounded up on top of railings in one swift motion. Sure, it wasn’t the comfiest place to sit, having to sit on the cold metal pole while his feet rested in a free triangular strap and his bag placed across on his lap, but beggars can’t be choosers.

From his unique vantage point, Jack looked down at the severely cramped train. Mammals of all walks of life were crammed into the limited space as they all headed off to their jobs. Suited and booted, in overalls, in floral dresses, in khakis and caps. All squeezed so close together they could hardly breathe. Indeed, a lynx in dark grey overalls was currently wedged between a hippopotamus and an elk, his face contorted in severe discomfort. Jack couldn’t help but give a tiny snigger as the train lurched forward, causing the elk to take a step back, crushing the lynx further against the hippo’s backside.

“Hhnnn!” the lynx cried, his voiced muffled by hippo’s thick hide and the elk’s hind fur. The lynx was trying everything to catch the attention of either the rock or the hard place, but neither seemed to notice his frantic display.

“Better go save him.” Jack thought, getting ready to hop down from his perch and give the two mammals a stern word about minding their surroundings. However, before Jack could even shift his weight, a loud, authoritative voice stopped him in his tracts.

“Hey!” the voice boomed, catching everyone’s attention. A few ‘Hey’s!’ and “Watch it’s”’ followed, mammals being shoved out of the way as a voice and power surged towards the elk and hippo.  Squeezing past an elderly badger and an unaware otter, the mammal finally broke through the wall of mammals to reach its destination.

“Hey!” the voice bellowed authoritatively, finally getting the hippo and deer’s attention, as well as the entire carriage in the process.  

A small vixen stood below them, her blue-grey eyes glaring up at the pair of mammals with ferocious intensity. She was wearing a mellow yellow pullover and a black skirt which cut off just above her knees. She had tuft of long, dark, red hair which starkly contrasted against her electric blue ears, the left of which had three earnings. Her tail, now twitching angrily, was also tipped in electric blue.

“Whoa,” Jack thought as he gazed down at the vixen. “I wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of her anytime soon.”  

“What’s the matter little lady?” the elk cooed in a paternalistic tone, as if trying to soothe a weepy child.

“Ooh, wrong move matey.” Jack muttered.

“What’s the matter? I’ll tell you what’s the matter!” the riled vixen fumed, her temper flaring up even further. “What’s the matter is that you and Hungry, Hungry Hippo are _squashing_ a lynx and you’re both too stupid to bloody well notice!”

Looking down at where she was now pointing the hippo’s face suddenly shifted from perplexed to mortified.

“Oh God, I’m so sorry!” he cried as he shot away as far as he could, letting the crumpled lynx fall free as he gasped for breath.

“Oh, I erm…” the elk mumbled as he edged away from the scene, getting accusatory glares from the rest of the passengers as he made his slow escape to the other side of the carriage, the passengers’ curiosity in the vixen and the lynx dying as the drama appeared to be over.

“Yeah! Scurry away like the coward you are!” the vixen called out as the elk escaped to a separate carriage.

“Unapologetic bastard.” she murmured before a loud wheeze caught her attention.

The previously squashed lynx was still gasping for air at the hindpaws of the vixen.

“Oh my goodness! Are you okay?” the vixen asked as she helped the lynx’s to his feet, his breath slowly coming back to him.

“Yeah, I’ll err… I think I’ll live,” the lynx finally said. “No thanks to Mr Antlered Patriarchy and his friend Blubber McCrushbutt over there. So that’s good. Thanks for saving me there by the way.”

“Oh, it was nothing,” the vixen said, swotting the air nonchalantly. “Those guys need to look where they’re standing. I mean, how could not see that cute lynx beneath them.”

“I’m sorry what?”

“Erm, nothing!” the vixen backtracked, a blush forming beneath her red fur. “So, err, what’s your name anyway? Might as well know the name of the lynx I got the attention of the whole carriage for.”

“Oh, my name’s Lux. Lux McRae,” the lynx said, extending a paw to the vixen. “And you are?”

“Oh, I’m Yuki,” she said, firmly shaking the lynx’s paw. “Yuki J. Fox.”

“Pretty,” Lux said dreamily, before his face turned bright red. “I mean err, pretty… pretty face, NAME! You’ve err, you’ve got a pretty name. You don’t meet many Yuki’s nowadays, do you?”

“You don’t meet many Lux’s either.” Yuki said, a small blush appearing through her red fur.

“Hang on,” Lux began, a smirk appearing on his muzzle. “Your last name’s Fox?”

“Yeah, what of it _McRae_?”

“Hey, I’m proud of my surname!” Lux shot back, a playful smirk on his lips as he leaned forward.

“Well I guess someone has to be! At least mine is accurate.” she quipped, leaning in half-argumentatively.

“But at least you can be happy with one thing.”

Lux became slightly confused, his head tilting a little. “What’s that?”

Yuki leaned in even closer, Jack practically feeling the tension emanating from them. “Your name hasn’t made you any less cute either.” she whispered, causing Lux to turn nearly as red as Yuki.

“God just kiss already.” Jack thought as he watched the pair skirt the boundary of inappropriate public conduct.

“So, you like Lion Maiden?” Yuki asked, brushing her dark red locks away from her eye.

Calming down a bit, Lux asked, “How’d you know that?”

“It’s kind of hard not to notice the shirt you’re wearing.” she replied, pointing at the lynx’s chest. Looking down, Lux noticed that in his escape from his crushing, several of his overall shirt buttons had come loose, revealing his undershirt to the world.

“Oh erm, heh, yeah, I kinda love Lion Maiden,” Lux admitted, looking down at his time worn shirt. “Do, do you like them?”

“Like?! I LOVE Lion Maiden!” Yuki blurted out with a huge grin on her face. “They’re so freaking awesome! I mean, Bruce Prideson is the best!”

“I know right?! He’s freaking amazing!” he gushed, making the vixen’s smile grow even more. “Damn, I just wish I could see him live. They’re not coming to Zootopia for ages!”

“I know, right? Damn, I can’t believe I’m finally meeting another Lion Maiden fan! Most mammals just seem to fawn for Gazelle.”

“Exactly! I mean she’s okay, I guess, but nothing compared to Lion Maiden! Next time they’re in town we should totally go.”

Jack had been tuning out their conversation as the subway trundled on but swivelled his head round as that little titbit came in loud and clear.

“We?” she teased, a smile crossing her lips.

“Err, if-you know-I mean, if you wanted to go I guess it’d be cool,” Lux stammered, the words falling over each other as his fur turned crimson. “I mean, I don’t know your schedule and you’re probably a busy mammal and wouldn’t want to go out to a concert with a mammal you’d just met and-“

“I’d love to.” Yuki breathed out as she shyly twiddled with her dark red locks. Jack gave a bucktoothed smile as Lux’s ramblings were swiftly cut off.

“Nicely done,” Jack smiled to himself. “I wonder if all vixens are this smooth?”

“I mean err, if that’s okay! I know you’re probably busy with work and everything! Err, anyway, here,” Yuki stammered, quickly pulling a pen and scrap piece of paper out of her pocket and scrawling something down before shoving it into the lynx’s paws as the train slowed to a stop. “In case you wanna just, you know, hang out and talk Lion Maiden or something. See you!”

And with that the flushed fox sped out of the carriage, leaving the lynx waving after her uselessly before the train doors shut once again.

“Not as smooth as I thought, but still sweet.” Jack thought, watching the vixen near enough danced away as the train pulled out of the station. The lynx remained where he was, staring at the paper in his paws.

Lux’s stupidly happy grin had not left his muzzle even when Jack had left the train. He just kept mouthing the message over and over again. While he had been sitting on high, Jack had seen the message as clear as day. It was a quickly scrawled phone number and an even more quickly scribbled ‘call me’ written underneath.

Leaving the station and the lynx behind him, the hare exited the subway and quickly made his way over to the grand building that was ZPD Precinct One. Pushing his way through the revolving doors, Jack gave a casual wave to the donut munching cheetah, before making a beeline to the stairs to his office.

Taking the last steps in one bound, Jack quickly popped into the detective’s locker room and dumped his bag in his tiny locker. With that done Jack headed back out and straight towards a rhino sized door, the words Zootopia Detective Bureau etched in gold on its frosted glass.

In stark contrast to the shining optimism of the lobby and the sterile yet functional bullpen, the ZDB looked like it was from another era. The ZPD’s workspace was continuously updated to be as modern as possible. Spacious cubicles, modern computers, a lenient workspace personalisation policy. Everything was done to make their office a home from home for the officers of the ZPD. The ZDB on the other hand looked like it hadn’t been updated since 1973. It was crammed with tiny cubicles with intimidating grey walls and computers that looked like they still ran Dingoes 95. It looked as if it tried everything to make the detectives of the ZDB the most miserable mammals in the building.

Passing the long rows of perpetually tired and disgruntled looking mammals, Jack made his way to the end of the row where his small cubicle was tacked on. It was an exact replica of the larger models which, considering that it was newer, was not saying a lot for it. It was just, if not more, claustrophobic and had a weird damp smell that for all his detective skills remained a mystery to him. Not only that but he also had to deal with a computer that whirred and made disconcerting noises as if it was about to explode at any moment.

Placing his jacket on the back of the chair and plonking himself down, Jack booted up his computer and began sifting through the large stack of papers that had accumulated on his desk.

Doing the admin work for other detectives was a laborious task. Dossiers, folders, pdfs and mangled word documents were sent for him to somehow re-shape into something presentable. When he had first gotten there Jack had tried to speed through everything with a vigour that would have rivalled the indisputable queen of high spirit Judy Hopps.

However, two years on and with little chance of being taken seriously on the horizon, Jack took a much slower pace. He still did far more admin work than any of the other detectives combined, but Jack now knew how to filter his work. He could easily identify what could be left for a later date and what needed to completed as soon as his computer would allow him. Also, not going hell for leather on absolutely everything had the health benefit of not having to neck vats of caffeine just to keep awake.

After an hour, the Kangacoffee’s miniscule caffeine benefit started to fade. His ears began to droop, his were eyes half open, and his typing pace would rival a sloth’s.

“Guess it’s coffee time.” Jack thought to himself.  Locking his computer, Jack began to head out of his cubicle, his eyelids already starting to become obnoxiously heavy.

“Another coffee run, eh Savage?” came a cackling voice on high.

Jack didn’t even need to look up to know who it was, the voice had imprinted itself on his mind like a brand on his soul.

Glancing up revealed a male spotted hyena leaning nonchalantly against a cubicle wall, his eyes full of mirth and his mouth set to his default toothy grin.

“Yeah, what’s it to you Kicheko?” Jack shot back as best as his caffeine deprived state would allow him.

“Hey, no need to go all mad march hare on me Savage,” Kicheko replied with a snigger. “I was just thinking if you were going if you’d get me something too. I’m lagging here.”

“Yeah, I think I’ll pass.” Jack said, opening the door as he tried his best to ignore the hyena’s snickering.

“Hey, come on! Don’t be like that! It’s not as if you’re late.” Kicheko called out.

“Late?” Jack asked, slightly confused, as he looked back to the grinning canid.

“Yeah, late,” he said, trying in vain to keep a straight face. “For a very important date!”

“For God’s sake.” Jack groaned, before barging through the door and stalking away.

“Come on Savage! No time to say hello, goodbye? He’s late! He’s late! He’s late!”

Standing a few feet away from the now shut door, Jack took a few breaths as Kicheko’s laughter finally petered out. With his eyes closed, Jack tried to calm himself as the tension and caffeine deficiency wreaked havoc on his sleep deprived mind. But then a sudden calmness came upon Jack, his breathing mellowing out and his paws de-clenching. It was as if some outside force were calming him from afar, acting as a salve to his mind. 

“This feels so… nice.” he thought, before the sound of a familiar set of claws made his eyes shoot open.

Darting over to the balcony, Jack scanned the ZPD lobby for the source of the sound.

“That’s weird,” Jack thought, a puzzled frown spreading across his face. “The hell made me calm down? It was almost as if I was…”

But before he could think any more on the topic, Jack’s need for caffeine reasserted itself with an almighty yawn escaping his mouth. Pushing himself away from the balcony’s glass, he started towards the ZDB’s break room.

“The hell’s he got to be like that?” Jack grumbled under his breath as he headed down the corridor. “It’s bad enough that everyone else either ignores me or treats me like a glorified secretary, but at least they have the courtesy to keep their mouths’ shut.”

But it had never mattered anyway, not to Kichecko. He seemed utterly fascinated in trying to get under the hare’s fur at any opportunity. There were comments, jibes, the occasional unexpected and unwanted visit to his cubicle, and a plethora of pranks that made Jack’s nose twitch with irritation.

Throwing thoughts of the hyena out of his mind, Jack pushed the door of the break room open and headed straight to the coffee machine. After trying, and failing, several times to get the hang of the larger mammals’ coffee machine, Jack had resorted to bringing his own in from home.

Quickly sorting himself a quick cup of piping hot caffeinated bliss, Jack took a hearty swig, not caring whether his tongue got blisters.

“Mmm… sweet, deep roasted heaven.” Jack thought as he gulped down his black nectar.

“Erm, excuse me?”

Pulled away from his thoughts, Jack looked over to the break room door. It might just have been the lack of caffeine, but Jack could have sworn there was a large stack of papers hovering in a crack in the doorway.

“Sorry to bother you, but could you give me a hand? These papers are killing my wrists.”

“Erm, sure.” he replied, popping his mug on the side and striding over to the stack in question.

“Just take some from the top. I knew taking this much was a mistake.”

“No problem.” Jack said, grabbing onto the surprisingly heavy documents from the middle and hefting them away, revealing a relieved looking skunk.

“Thanks ever so much,” the skunk said with a smile. “I knew I should have done it two trips, but the office is so far away and I just wanted to get it done and dusted.”

“What office is that, then?” Jack asked has he readjusted his paws under his stack.

“Oh, I’m looking for some hare or other. Savage I think his name was? He works in the ZDB and Detective Chief Inspector Winbourn’s been asking for all this lot to be sent straight to him. Why they don’t just do this all digitally is what I’d like to know!”

“Well, looks like you’ve found your hare,” Jack sighed, the paperwork now feeling slightly heavier now. “And yeah, they should definitely digitise these like the rest of the ZPD.”

“I know, right? It’s like they’re living in the past or something. Why can’t they just catch up like the rest of the world?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. C’mon. I’ll help you take these to my office.”

“Oh, would you? Thank you. That’s so nice of you.” the skunk said, as Jack followed the skunk out, the hare already making a mental note to come back to get a double helping of coffee.

Using his hindpaw to shut the door behind him, his paws still full of documents and reports, Jack finally managed to get a proper look at the waiting skunk.

Standing a few centimetres taller than him, her coifed white head fur gently falling over her left eye, she stood in a calm, dignified manner. Wearing a white blouse and a dark blue, pleated skirt, Jack was impressed by how professional she looked. Given that the only other non-ZPD staff mammal he could compare her to was Kicheko, who he could not remember ever having a shirt that wasn’t stained or untucked, it wasn’t much of a contest.

Giving her a cursory glance Jack could tell that other mammals could see her as attractive. Her fur was sleek and immaculately groomed. Her hourglass figure was modest but, for the right mammal, sensuously alluring. Her bust pushed up against the fabric of her top and her hips looked as if they could get many a mammal to stop and leer at her. Yet her real selling point was her magnificently bushy tail. It arched over her head and curled back over itself, revealing her immaculate white and black fur.

Though Jack’s heart beat for a particular arctic vixen, even he allowed himself a moment of jealousy as his tiny cotton-tail twitched a little at its own lacklustre nature.

But beyond her looks, Jack could see more to this mammal. The studious gaze of her dark brown eyes, the public-school posture, her lack of any overtly noticeable tick or quirk. It looked as if she rolled off a model worker assembly line.

“So, are you new around here then?” Jack asked conversationally, all those thoughts having rushed through his mind within the space of a second, as they began to walk towards the ZDB office.

“Oh yeah. I’ve only been here a few weeks, but it already feels like years. There’s so much work to be done in that poky office that you have get used to everything pretty quickly. It’s sink or swim over there.”

“Oh, so you’re in admin then?” Jack confirmed, already having surmised as much.

“Mm-hmm, I started there middle of last month. You can get a bit cooped up in there but at least you’re dealing with important stuff. It’s better than the last few jobs I’ve had, I can tell you. You should have seen the last place I worked! There was just no organisation there and mammals just wouldn’t put in the work...”

The skunk rambled on as Jack gave a few nods and the occasional ‘Yep’ and ‘Mm-hmm’. His mind however had already drifted off down an arctic trail.

“I wonder what she’ll wear?” he mused, a small smile drifting across his muzzle. “Her work’s clothes? Blouse and skirt? A little black dress?”

Jack’s brain stopped for a moment as a vivid picture of Skye in a form fitting black dress zoomed into forefront of his mind. The thin fabric hugging her svelte figure, the hemline stopping mid-way down her thighs, her luscious tail swaying back and forth as she smiled with those ever-enticing fangs.

“Don’t get too far ahead of yourself Jack,” he mentally rebuked, shaking his thoughts and encroaching blush away. “She’ll look absolutely stunning no matter what she wears. But then again, a hare can dream…”

They rounded the corner, heading straight towards the ZDB’s underwhelming door, with Jack still in a blissful trance as the skunk continued her one-sided conversation.

“God, tonight’s going to be amazing,” Jack thought, his smile still softly hanging on his face. “I hope she likes what I’ve got to wear for tonight.”

It was at that moment that a sixteen-tonne weight crashed through the ceiling of Jack’s mind, shattering his peaceful thoughts and letting wave upon wave of doubts flood his entire being.

“Oh God, what if she doesn’t like what I’m wearing? What if she doesn’t like what I say? What can I say that’s interesting to her? I just push papers for other mammals! She’s got a job that she’s great at while I’m stuck in a rut two thousand leagues deep!”

Jack’s brow furrowed as the ZDB door loomed closer.

“I mean, she’s a talented, intelligent, sweet, and insanely gorgeous vixen! She could get any tod she wants! Why the hell would she want to go out with a hare like me!”

“Err, Detective Savage?”

“I mean, is this a pity date? Is this a ‘Thanks for helping me with the car! Might as well reward you with a glimpse of what you could never hope to get?’ Is that it? Is that what this is?! Oh my God, it is, isn’t it?!!

“Detective Savage?”

“There’s no way she’d go out with a hare, let alone a hare like me! What the hell would she see in me anyway? God, why did I let myself believe that-”

“Jack!”

“Huh?” Jack managed to blurt out before slamming directly into the ZDB’s door, documents flying out of his paws.

“What hit me?” Jack asked, unsure if little birds were flying round his head or not.

“Your own thoughts by the look of it,” the skunk replied, trying to repress a laugh. “Well, that and a solid oak door. That helped a bit too.”

“Oh, a comedian as well as an administrator. Aren’t you the whole package?” Jack answered sarcastically, already grabbing the paper from the floor.

“Apparently not as much as Skye.” the skunk replied, her voice in a teasing sing-song tone.

Jack’s ears went bolt upright, a crimson blush covering his entire muzzle.

“Wha-who-I mean, I don’t know who you’re talking about!” he stammered, his blush intensifying with every word.

“Well you certainly seemed to know who she is,” the skunk chuckled, as she helped the hare pick up his remaining papers. “You kept murmuring her name for most of our conversation. It seems like she was the only thing on your mind since nothing I said made any impression. Well, the door might have but that’s beside the point.”

There was a beat of silence as the two mammals collected the papers scattered on the floor before the skunk spoke again.

“So, you like Skye then?”

“Yes, no, I, I mean…” Jack let out a sigh. “It’s nothing, really. I mean, it might be nothing. Honestly, I don’t think she’d even be interested in me. At least, not in that way.”

“Why? Because she’s a vixen?”

Jack’s head spun round to the slightly smiling skunk, a knowing look in her eyes.

“How’d you know that?” he blurted out.

“Wow, for a detective you’re not very perceptive, are you?” the skunk tittered, leaving Jack a little more than embarrassed.  

“I’m an Administration Officer. I have to deal with paperwork for the entire building. Not just the ZDB. I deal with the ZPD, Housing Bureau, Transport Bureau, Dispatchers, HR, and, yes, even the Mechanics. I’ve seen Skye’s name crop up a lot since she’s in charge so it wasn’t hard to put two and two together. That and Skye’s not a common name to start with. And there’s only one Skye who works here. And I’ve seen her before and her first words to me were ‘Hey, I’m Skye! I’m the Head Mechanic. How are you? D’you want a muffin?’”

The skunk’s face grew even smugger, he grin growing wider, as Jack’s face continued to ripen like a tomato.

“So when you had that pining look on your face while muttering ‘Skye’ under your breath it really wasn’t a stretch to say who you were thinking about.”

“Was I muttering her name?” Jack thought, trying to calm his heated face.

“Yes, you were,” said the somehow telepathic skunk. “You’re so easy to read. Especially when you get flustered like that. So, you’ve got a date with her then?”

“It’s not a date,” Jack admitted. “We’re just meeting up after work for some drinks.”

“What’s the problem then?” the skunk asked, slightly puzzled. “It doesn’t sound like anything too strenuous. Just go out with her, have a few drinks, chat and see where this not-a-date goes. Nothing to it.”

“God, you sound like an instruction manual.” Jack muttered, picking up the last few scattered documents.

“Well, isn’t it that simple? It’s a couple of mammals getting together after work. What’s the problem?”

“Everything!” Jack cried, slamming the last document onto his pile. “What if she doesn’t like me? What if this is all because I helped her and it’s just like repayment or something? I’m a hare for God’s sake! She could pick any tod or vixen she wants! Have you seen her?! She’s a smart, talented, kind and astonishingly beautiful mammal! Why the hell would a perfect vixen like her bother to spend time with a defective detective like me?”

His breathing had become ragged, his eyes staring intensely at the skunk before him. The skunk held a slightly shocked look before falling back into a cooler demeanour.

“Okay Jack,” she said commandingly, resting her paws on her hips. “If you keep panicking like this then yes, Skye might not give you the time of day after this not-a-date. And to be honest, I wouldn’t blame her. Being a Fluster Bun is cute and all but if you’re this down on yourself all the time it’s going to get infuriating pretty damn fast.”

Taking her paws off her hips, the skunk quickly strode over to Jack, placed her paws on his shoulders and made him look directly into her authoritative eyes.

“But,” she added in a softer tone. “If you just stay calm and be yourself, I’m sure you and Skye will get on splendidly. You seem like a nice guy. You’ve got a brain in there somewhere. Just use them and you’ll be fine. Oh, and while you may think Skye is the be all and end all, don’t knock yourself. You’ve got your good points. You’re kind, sweet, and pretty handsome too, I guess.”

“Thanks for the ‘I guess’ just to take the edge off that stunning pep talk.” Jack chuckled, his hysteria having dissipated.

“Hey, hares aren’t my thing.” the skunk chuckled, glad Jack was calming down. “But I can tell you one thing, if it’ll make you feel any better.”

She gave a quick glance around and, satisfied no-one was eavesdropping, continued.

“You didn’t hear this from me but the Admin Office collects more than forms and files. It collects gossip. Especially on staff members’ love lives. And Skye had been on everyone’s radar for a while.”

“Yeah. How could she not be?” Jack said dreamily, a brief blush crossing his muzzle as thoughts of Skye filtered into his brain.

“ _Anyway_ ,” the skunk said loudly. “The word round the office has been that loads of mammals have been betting on who Skye will get with. Relationship, blind date, drunken one night stand, anything really. But she’s been here for years and the only things mammals have gotten for trying to put the moves on her are bruises or shattered pride. Usually both! So, the fact that she’s going out with you, even for a not-a-date, can only mean one of two things. Either she just has a thing for hares and she finally needs to scratch that itch.”

“Wow, thanks for making me feel special.” Jack grumbled.

“ _Or_ ,” the skunk emphasised. “You’re a lot more special to her than you think.”

“Huh,” Jack eventually said, his mind having completely calmed. “Wow.”

“Wow indeed, detective. Now I’ll just hand these back to you then. I had to be back at my desk at least ten minutes ago and Clover will be sending out a search party for me if I stay any longer.”

With that, the skunk grabbed the paper pile and placed them into Jack’s arms.

“If you ever need someone to chat to about this kind of stuff, since I’m guessing the mammals in there might not be too helpful,” the skunk said, pointing to the ZDB’s door as Kicheko’s unmistakable  howl laughter reverberated from inside. “Then I’ll be more than happy to chat with you. You seem nice anyway. Plus, it’ll be good to chat about something that isn’t admin for a change.”

“You and me both,” Jack chuckled. “Oh, by the way, what’s your name?”

“Well if someone weren’t daydreaming/panicking about meeting up with an arctic fox, you might have heard it.” the skunk softly chided, causing Jack to give an embarrassed laugh.

“For the second time, it’s Lola. Lola Hollowden.”

“Pleasure to meet you Lola.” Jack replied, bowing his head slightly.

“Likewise. Now I really must go. Good luck with your not-a-date!”

“Thanks.” Jack called out as Lola darted down the corridor and out of sight, her bushy tail whipping round the corner.

Adding his pile of papers to the one Lola had given him, Jack pushed his way through the door. Ignoring the spotted hyena’s peals of laughter at whatever inane thing was going on, he headed straight to his cubicle. Setting his paperwork down, he cracked his knuckles and set to work.

The rest of the day went by in a blur. Paperwork completed, paperwork dumped on his desk, Kicheko howling in laughter, Kicheko being told to shut the hell up for the umpteenth time by a whole queue of detectives, the bland lunch, more paperwork, and the endless whirring of his nearly defunct computer. Yet none of it really crossed his mind. Jack was in an almost zen like state. He only became aware of the passage of time when he happened to glance up at the square clock on the wall.

“I guess it’s time.” Jack breathed, pushing himself out of his chair.

“Okay,” he thought as he headed into the locker rooms. “It’s just some drinks between friends. Just be yourself like Lola said. It’ll be fine.”

Opening his locker, Jack grabbed his bag with his change of clothes and began to unzip it.

“It’s just a hare and a vixen going out for a drink. What’s the worst that could happen?”


	3. Fits, Starts, and Random Collisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The 'Totally-Not-a-Date' looms ever closer. While Jack prepares himself to meet up with Skye, Skye's lies begin to unravel as Amy investigates her story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Unaccomplished Writer here once again! So, yeah this took a long time to come out. Mostly, that’s my fault. I took a break from writing after chapter two came out, then I had bad news, a few spells of feeling down, business with work, and just a load of stuff in general. With everything happening, I just put off editing this. I wasn’t motivated and, as more time passed, I felt nothing I could do would be as good as the last chapter. I got sucked down this path of trying to make this perfect. To get everything right in one go. 
> 
> But, after getting stuff more sorted, I re-realised (as I keep having to remind myself) that perfectionism is impossible and I won’t get better as a writer if I don’t keep writing and letting the world see what I have and take the feedback given and work on it to create a better story and to become a better writer. So, with my motivation back, I have finally written this and edited it. I'd also like to give a massive thank you to @zootopian-doctor for giving me last minute edits that surely helped make this work become a lot more readable. Thank you very much mate!
> 
> I hope the wait was worth it and that we haven’t lost too many fans in the process. But, here it is, chapter three! I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> Signing Out! – The Unaccomplished Writer: Co-Writer and Editor in Chief
> 
> Good day and good evening where ever you may be, I am Odd The Motoring Fox; the other half of this odd duo of fan-fiction. This has been a very long wait for all of us including myself. Endless hours of reading trying to find fault with anything of my co-writers work. Good news for all, its freaking fantastic! The only thing I can say is that Yes; we are back and we plan on producing more content in a more timely fashion. Chapter four is already in the works and in the editing process. Thankfully the next chapter is in the paws of a fantastic teacher, friend and editor. 
> 
> Now as for you the reader, I have only one thing to say to you and that is to enjoy yourself. Kick back and stay awhile and step inside the world of Oddly Unaccomplished Productions! 
> 
> Odd Out :D
> 
> P.S- The text conversation was my idea ;)

Smoothing out his jumper, the woollen fabric hugging his frame closely, Jack took a final look in his cracked locker mirror. His reflection staring back at him, his mirrored image appraising his duplicate, he gave a soft, approving smile at his corporeal counterpart.

His khaki trousers hung loose enough to be casual but were without crease or crinkle after the good ironing session he had put them through the night before. A navy-blue shirt, his collar done all the way up, matched his overzealous attitude with the iron, looking as if it had just come off the peg brand new. It was only with the addition of a well-worn, yet still smart-looking, emerald jumper that Jack barely managed to edge his way down to looking slightly casual.

The hare smiled at himself in the mirror, admiring his choice of clothes and making sure his fur was properly groomed without looking overworked for what was meant to be just a casual meet up with a colleague. Flattening a few stray bits of fur, giving his teeth a quick brush and rinse, smelling his breath, and doing a final pat down of himself to make sure he had everything he needed, Jack finally let out a long, strained sigh.

“Come on, Savage. It’s just a drink. You’ve been in more terrifying situations than this.”

Jack swallowed down a nervous laugh, not wanting to break his already faulty composure. Jack looked back at himself in the mirror, his eyes twitching rapidly as he tried to regain focus. Sure, he had seen some, and mostly read about, more gruelling and frightening things than this. For all Zootopia’s grand rhetoric about mammals, both pred and prey, living in harmony with one another, it was still like any other place in the world. Mammals can be cruel. Vindictive. Evil.

While he had not been out on many cases since joining the ZDB, and even then, he was mostly left to sit in the car and mindlessly explore Zoogle, he still had to deal with in-depth reports about what other detectives dealt with. He’d get the transcripts. The photos. The videos. Sure, it wasn’t all the time that stuff like that happened and, while not out in the field like his colleagues, the images and descriptions still leeched into his underused brain like a parasite. He would live the entirety of his life with those images seared into his head. And he was completely at ease with that.

Yet the prospect of going out with an arctic vixen for just a casual drink? His paws were shaking at the mere thought.

Jack clunked his head against the mirror, his mind flooding with all kinds of scenarios. His brain painted mental pictures of infinite possibilities. From the plausible to the downright absurd, all of them ended with him broken and alone while the snow-white vixen regarded him with a look of disgust and pity before turning on her heel and walking out on him.

_Hey, what I’d say about panicking?_

“Lola?” Jack suddenly jerked back, his eyes wide as he scanned the locker room. It was still as dank and quiet as it was when he came in, the only noticeable sound being that of his racing heart.

“Great,” Jack grimaced. “I’ve known her all for all of five minutes and I’ve already got that skunk in my brain.

Looking back at the mirror, Jack took a deep calming breath, his paws’ beginning to still and his mind refocusing on reality.

“She’s right though,” Jack mused, as he readjusted his sweater a final time. “I can’t keep freaking out like this. You can do this Savage. Just be you and it’ll be fine.”

Giving himself a final once over, Jack shut the locker door with tiny clunk and began to head out.

“I just have to be me. That’s all. Don’t be awkward. You don’t even know if she’s into you like that.”

 _You’re a lot more special to her than you think_.

Jack paused at the door, a blush spreading onto his muzzle before he shook it off quickly.

“Goddamnitla.” Jack grumbled as he pushed to door open.

With the ZPD open 24/7, there were always officers and staff milling about doing something or other. The ZPD had to reflect the never sleeping metropolis that was Zootopia. Though many mammals operated during the day, even those who had naturally evolved to work at dawn, dusk or the dead of night, many mammals were still needed to work the supposed graveyard shift.

Or perhaps that was rather a misnomer. While true that Deerbrooke County was a relatively placid place, with most of the police force dreading the required shift through the night in the relatively peaceful countryside, Zootopia was a completely different kettle of fish.

While mammals, like him, were beginning to clock out and head to home, others were just coming in and beginning their shift. As lions, wolves, tigers, elephants, and indeed a certain fox and rabbit headed out, ready to spend their days alone or with company, in their comfort of their homes or the raucous clamour of the bar, in the sweet dark of night or the illumninated luxury of artificial light, another crew began to filter in to take their spots.

Caracals, leopards, beavers, badgers, dingoes, coyotes and even a kangaroo to name but a few who were on the nocturnal shift. Even normally diurnal mammals willingly took on the nocturnal shift, in blatant opposition to their natural body clock. Jack looked down at the ZPD lobby as he walked down the stairs, seeing all these mammals come and go, all perfectly willing to go against thousands, if not millions, of years of evolution in order to sustain employment. The entirety of the mammality breaking the chains of their age-old ways, just to get a pay cheque.

“And here I am about to go out with a vixen,” Jack chuckled at himself. “How things change.”

Ignoring his own implications, Jack hopped down the last few steps and headed over to the electronic scanner, ready to swipe his time out and head outside and be ready waiting for Skye to come and collect him. Just as Jack finished up with the screen, a large and familiar shadow hung over him.

“Hey Jack. Looking pretty nifty tonight then, aren’t you?”

With a forced sigh, Jack looked back up to see the scruffy hyena leaned against the wall, his smug grin plastered on his face.

“Never seen you in civvies before. It’s kind of weird, but good weird I guess.” Kicheko’s grin widened, his bone crushing teeth on full display and short, sharp cackle rumbling in his throat.

“You got something planned tonight then? Meeting a hare tonight? Or are they called haresses? Harettes?”

“Kicheko, I’m not in the mood to-”

“Or is it a hare? Honestly, I don’t know which way you swing but whatever. Either is fine. Or both if that’s your thing. I won’t judge.”

“Not that it’s any of your business who I’m meeting but first off, hares are called bucks and does, just like most other rabbits.”

“Oh, well that’s boring.” Kicheko huffed, stuffing his paws into his faux-leather jacket pockets.

“Secondly,” Jack continued, his voice rising in irritation. “It’s none of your business whatever way I swing, as it’s none of my business the way you, or anyone else, swings.”

“Okay, so-rry!” Kicheko said with half-hearted childish dramatics. “Didn’t know it was such a touchy subject.”

“Well you should,” Jack could see he was starting to break through on Kicheko, at least on pestering on sexuality. He may be a pest, by he knew when he overstepped a mark. He usually didn’t care, but he had some standards.

“And thirdly, I’m not going on a date. I’m just meeting a… a friend.”

The smug, self-satisfied look that had been present on his face for so long that Jack had begun to believe it was there since birth suddenly vanished. His toothy grin was replaced slight hanging jaw, his face losing all its mirth and became incredibly nonplussed. For a moment, Jack thought he had finally put a stop to Kicheko and his endless pestering. The return of the hyena’s grin made that theory a little shaky.

“Oh, Jack, Jack, Jack.” The hyena said, bending down and resting on his haunches, looking the hare right in the eyes, his pitch-black pupils centring in on him as he was zeroing in on his soul. A small chuckle finally escaped from his throat as he shook his head, as if at some private joke that they were supposedly both in on, causing Jack to give a nervous laugh himself. Suddenly, his paws came out of their pockets and slammed down on the hare’s shoulders, before drawing him into an unwanted half-bro hug.

“You know,” he chuckled, holding the confused buck in his paws. “You have got some major work to do on that poker face.”

Kicheko’s grasp relaxed, allowing Jack to look into the triumphant hyena’s eyes.

“Because if you think for one moment that you’re just seeing a ‘friend’, then you are as good of a detective as Pennington is as good at hide and seek.”

Jack’s pupils grew into the blackest of berries, his nose beginning to unconsciously twitch as if he were in imminent danger. If Jack had a heart rate monitor attached to him at very moment, it probably would be somewhere in the region of ridiculous to stratospherically high.

“However,” Jack’s heart stopped as the hyena’s paws gently released him. “I’m not about to stick my nose in where you don’t want me to. I don’t wanna stand in the way of my very best hare’s good time tonight.”

Kicheko rose and grinned with equal parts warmth and nefariousness. Jack couldn’t help but be a little suspicious. The way the normally irritating hyena had just so casually let him off despite the dead certainty of his last statement started alarm bells ringing in the hare’s head. Still, his heart had begun to calm down as he began to speak again.

“Anyway, I can’t blame you for going out for a night on the town with a ‘friend’. It’s about time you let your ears down a little! Seems like I only ever see you in your damn cubicle. Makes me almost sad to see you like that, all hunched over that computer like an old biddy or something. So, if me keeping my muzzle shut for a while means you’re gonna go out and enjoy yourself for once, then that’s a price I’d be willing to pay.”

The hyena scratched the back of his head, pointing his head down to the ground. It was almost as if he was a little embarrassed at talking so straightforwardly and normal. It was even freaking Jack out a little, before the hyena’s head shot back up, his trademark smile back on his face.

“Oh, but don’t worry. Come Monday, I’m gonna need all the gossip straight from the hare’s mouth. And don’t skimp on any of the juicy details! I want to know what the ZDB’s best hare detective has been up to!”

“I’m the only hare detective.” It was a bit of a sullen reply, but Jack couldn’t help but let the corners of his mouth curling up into a semi-smirk at the backhanded compliment.

“And that’s why you’re the best!” Kicheko exclaimed before rustling Jack’s headfur, cackling all the while.

Finally releasing him from the roughhousing, Jack quickly fixed his tussled fur, his paws patting down the fluffed-up fur.

“Aww, you’re so cute when you’re flustered.” Kicheko ribbed.

“Don’t call me cute!” Jack spat, giving him a death glare, forgetting about his puffed up headfur. “You can’t call hares cute!”

“Can and did Mad March Hare. Anyways, I have to off. Got places to grace my presence with and all that. Ciao for now, Jackalope.”

With a final rustle of his fur, the strangely considerate and bothersome hyena quickly made his way over to the revolving glass doors, leaving Jack frustrated as he patted his fur back down.

“I’m never going to understand that mammal.” While glad of the momentary reprieve, Jack still internally groaned at the renewed and heightened pestering that he would now receive on Monday to gods know when.

Jack grumbled as he crossed the quietened lobby. “Guess sitting in front of a computer all day hasn’t done my inscrutable mask any favours. I’m going to have to see Joselin and get my poker face back in shape…”

With that thought, and the ZPD lobby quieting down considerable as most mammals headed off to start their shift, Jack headed through the revolving doors into the late day sun.

Adjusting slightly to the dying, yet still bright, light of the day, Jack’s attention was soon caught by the sight of a large silver truck pulling into the ZPD car park, a low beat reverberating in his ears.

Glancing down at his watch, Jack smiled. “Bang on time.”

Smoothing down his ears and taking one deep, soothing breath, Jack began to walk towards the parked truck.

\---

“Okay Al, I’m finishing up here.”

Lifting his head up from under the bonnet, Arnold looked over at the raccoon who was already midway in taking off her overalls.

“You’ve still not fixed the suspension on that cruiser.”

“And it’ll stay that way until I get back on it on tomorrow. Because unlike _some_ mammals, I don’t get the luxury of having weekends off every damn week.”

She scoffed as the timber wolf ducked his head back under the bonnet, probably grumbling about either her apparent laziness or how she wouldn’t think him so lucky if she actually met his mate. It was a common enough gripe for her to immediately shut him down on because, despite knowing and working with the wolf for nearly three years, she had still not seen hide nor tail of the infamous Mrs. Faolan. For all the badmouthing Arnold did of his mate, he seemed to make damn certain that she, or anyone else, saw her.

“Maybe that’s his weird little way to show that he cares,” Amy mused as she headed over to her locker, grabbing her fabric bag full of her regular clothes. “Either way, he doesn’t have to be such a prick about her behind her back.”

“Don’t forget to clock out!” the familiar wolf hollered as she gave her locker a firm slam. “And for Capybara’s sake, change in the changing room this time! I don’t want to deal with another freaking lecture from HR!”

“Well it’s not my fault we don’t have enough room for our bloody lockers in there! I told you we need an extension or something!” Amy shot back, before a mischievous grin formed on her lips. “And besides, you weren’t complaining last time!”

“I was.” The wolf’s voice refuted with indignation. “Loudly, if you remember correctly.”

“Then you remember wrong. I remember a pair of canine eyes taking in my figure. But hey, if you’ve got it, why not flaunt it? You weren’t complaining last time…”

“Well I’m complaining now!” Arnold pushed himself out of the cruiser and took a few steps towards the grinning raccoon.

“And anyway,” he continued, giving her a quick look from head to hindpaw, a smug smirk of his own crossing his muzzle. “With what you’ve got to ‘flaunt’, I wouldn’t be surprised if mammals mistake you for a guy. You act like one enough of the time anyway.”

“Shows what you know you!” Amy hotly spat back. “Trust a canine not to know what a fine specimen of a Procyon looks like. Well, at least that’s what Marco said…”

Amy let the sentence hang in the air, waiting for the wolf to take the bait. He might give off an air of indifference, but Amy knew all too well that he loved little bits of gossip about his co-workers.

“Fine,” he breathed, caving into his need for idle chatter. “Who’s Marco then?”

“Oh, just a raccoon I met the other night who was very, _very_ complimentary on my physical form.”

“Sure, he was.” Arnold rolled his eyes dismissively.

“He was!” Amy blurted out, sounding a little more like a petulant kit than a secure adult. “He was impressed by how… flexible I could be.”

Even with the fluttering of her eyelids, Arnold was not swayed.

“Sure, and I bet that flexibility got you that second date you’ve been craving.”

“It… it wasn’t a date. It was just a hook-up. And he was boring anyway. He talked about accountancy for like an hour or something. You can’t date a guy who says his proudest moment was when he discovered a misplaced decimal point in the McFurson Group’s third quarter portfolio last year which saved them from losing twenty-four million bucks on the stock market or some such nonsense. God, I could barely keep my eyes open.”

“And yet you remember something as boring as that? Down to the last detail?”

Amy huffed, hating the self-righteous look Arnold was giving her.

“It was memorably boring.”

“Whatever. In any case, you’re not gonna find happiness just going around banging anything that moves. What is that now? The seventh mammal in the last five months?”

“Eighth.”

“Eighth?” Arnold asked, confusion spreading on his face. “When did that one happen?”

“A week before Marco, but five days after Marigold. I was going to meet Marco then, but he had to do some emergency meeting with the Clawstein Brothers and I bumped into the wonderfully closeted predophile that was Vincent ‘You don’t need to know my last name since I’m already feeling your thigh’ the rabbit. Got to admit he was well stocked but God, that guy just needs to rethink his life a bit. Think he’s getting engaged to some doe just because he feels like he has too. Showed me the ring, the doe, the burrow they’re gonna move into, everything! Still didn’t stop him getting me a Zuber and putting his paws all over me. Bloody idiot…

“Again, whatever. But still, you seem to remember an awful lot for just ‘some fling’.”

Amy remained silent, staring the wolf down, not willing to admit anything, nor wanting to defend her position.

“Just get changed already.” Arnold sighed wearily, heading back to his work. “I’ll see you Monday.”

“Yeah, see you Monday.” Amy turned on her heel and quickly slunk into the female changing room, allowing the door to softly click shut behind her.

With the door shut behind her, Amy let out a breath that she hadn’t realised she had been holding in, her chest receding into itself as all the air flowed out of her.

“Friggin’ prick.” Amy muttered before heading over to one of the two miniscule stalls. Usually she didn’t much bother closing herself off in the claustrophobic cubicle since the room was only used by Skye and herself. While Skye could sometimes be a little squeamish about showing some fur, Amy practically revelled in getting a blush and a squeak out her vixen friend as she playfully stripped in front of her. Yet, without the warmth of her embarrassed laughter, the silence became oppressive. Amy pushed herself into the small, yet well-maintained cubicle, and dumped her causal clothes on the small bench bolted to the wall.

Looking at herself in the mirror affixed to the back of the locker room door, Amy admired herself with a fond smile. Her jet-black shirt, a little rumpled and untucked in places, was something that she was particularly proud of having as uniform. Although it was standard issue for all mechanics, the way it clung to her slender frame, the colour complimenting her fur and doing its best to hide any mess caused from fixing cruisers, made her feel that she had hit the jackpot in style and utility.

She hugged herself with her paws, sliding them down her sides, her slim build becoming more evident as the shirt tightened against her frame. Her slightly pinched-in waist, her slightly pushed out hips, her shirt opening up to reveal a little bit of chest fur, Amy grinned at herself. She could almost have a slight hourglass figure. Almost.

Her eyes turned a little darker for a brief moment as Arnold’s comment ricocheted around the walls of her mind.

“Damn canine…” Amy silently cursed before pulling the shirt off, not even bothering to unbutton it.

Amy sighed a little, looking at the slim raccoon reflected in the glass. It did bother her a bit sometimes; the way male and female raccoons looked so similar. She couldn’t remember the amount of times a sow, and a few boars, had come up to her, fluttering their eyelids and commenting on ‘his’ good-looking body only for their jaws to drop as her tomboyish but unmistakably-feminine voice sent them into panic mode as they scurried off back to their friends.

Silently undressing and redressing as these thoughts played through her head, Amy couldn’t help being a little jealous of mammals who were more overtly female. Lionesses, deer does, ewes, spotted-hyenas, you could tell who was male and who was female without so much as a thought. Hell, even Skye had little trouble making it known she was a vixen and not a tod. She could wear the most masculine clothes and behave as idiotically macho as she liked and would still get a tod or two giving her lingering looks.

“The curse of the ‘coons precede us.” The comment escaped her muzzle before she could stop herself. But it was nonetheless true. Mothers and fathers handed it down to their young since the dawn of time for a reason. Raccoons just had a harder time finding mates and it was something she, and all other raccoons, had to deal with. But, that didn’t mean she couldn’t have some fun while she was on her search. Not that she’d ever admit that. Especially not to that smug, wife-weary wolf.

“What’s his deal anyway? Who cares if I rut with half of Zootopia? Or if Skye’s got some fancy tod. It’s none of his damn business in the first place, the nosy, gossipy, little-”.

The flow halted, the words stuck in Amy’s throat as her thoughts and her paw paused midway through stuffing her work clothes into her now invisibly stained bag.

“Well, it may be none of Arnold’s business whether Skye is screwing a tod or not,” Amy reasoned, chewing down the hypocrisy. “But it damn well is my business!”

Barging through the changing room door, Amy marched back to her locker and instinctively reached for the single metallic shelf that was just too high for the raccoon to comfortably reach. Pulling her phone down, Amy quickly powered it up, its familiar black paw symbol contrasting against the blinding white background. As the phone slowly came to life, Amy clocked out and made her way out through the ZPD entrance, idly making her way to her favourite vending machine up on the fourth floor. 

The fourth floor was a rather underrated place in Amy’s book. Most mammals were swept away by the grand majesty of the ZPD’s lobby, or the imposing exterior, or even the garage as Skye had been when she looked around it with unbelieving eyes as when she became manager of the ZPD’s Mechanics Division. But, for Amy, the fourth-floor vending machine was truly where it was at. Constantly stocked with all the best goodies and with nary a mammal in sight, the mammals making up the floor being cooped in their dull little cubicles grinding through mundane and menial tasks. For the little raccoon though, it was a private slice of heaven.

Plus, the fourth floor just happened to be bestowed with a wonderful wall of glass that looked out onto Zootopia. It wasn’t much, just mostly Savannah Central and the bustling mammals going about their lives. Yet, on a slow day, with Pupsi in paw, Amy would sit cross-legged and watch life go by before meandering back to the workshop to get stuck back into another faulty carburettor.

Dropping in a few quarters, Amy stabbed the glowing button and, after a strained, mechanical whirr and the loud thunk that followed it, Amy reached down and pulled out a cold can of Pupsi. Cracking the tab open with a satisfying _tsst_ , she took a quick swig of the dark contents, the fizziness tickling the inside of her nose as she took another chug.

Pulling her face away, Amy looked back at her phone, the lock screen now inviting her in. Tapping her pin with practiced precision, the background popped into view, obscured by a plethora of apps that continued for eternity.

Amy grinned to herself at the blocked off photo. It was taken on Skye’s last birthday, when she, in Amy’s words, had finally become ineligible of joining the twenty-seven club. Skye had protested initially, arguing that she was never eligible in the first place as she wasn’t a musician. But, after a few tequilas, highballs, manhattans, and an extra tequila or two for quick measure, Skye’s playful denials turned into slurred agreement with a side of clinginess and searching paws.

Though Amy was probably as sloshed, if not more so, than the birthday vixen, she still remembered the photo being taken quite vividly. Arnold had been snorting all the way through his numerous botched attempts to take a photo on Amy’s tiny phone. By the time he finally got there, she and Skye were in tears with laughter, sprawled over one another with Skye’s claws gently raking through Amy’s chestfur.

The laughter didn’t return the next day. The headache ridden vixen merely groaned with embarrassment as she gazed upon her happily drunk past self before she tried to swipe the phone from Amy and delete the less than flattering photo. But Amy had been too quick, and, despite weeks of protests, threats, and begging, the photo remained, only to be brought up on special occasions as a magic trick to turn an artic fox red.

Amy opened the messages app and, after a bit of scrolling, finally found the name she was looking for. Clicking the contact name, she quickly tapped out a message and hit the send button. It only took a few seconds for her phone to ping back in response.

LIZZIE: _Hey Ames! How’s things?_

Amy scowled to herself as she quick shot off another message.

AMY: _Fine, and I thought I told you not to call me Ames._

LIZZIE: _Sorry! Keep forgetting. Anyway, what did you want? I’m kind of busy over here._

AMY: _Suuuure, you are. That’s why you texted me before I could get my Pupsi to my muzzle._

LIZZIE: _I am busy!_

AMY: _So what are you doing now then?_

LIZZIE: _Important things!_

AMY: _And those important things would be?_

LIZZIE: _…things. That are important._

AMY: _You’re counting the ceiling tiles again, aren’t you?_

An ellipsis appeared, disappeared, reappeared, then disappeared again in quick succession. Amy smirked to herself. Lizzie had never been the best liar. It’s why the one time she went on undercover she just straight out said she was a cop. She was just lucky the aardvark was dumb enough to think she was pulling his leg and let her in. She still holds the record for most successful undercover stats for any officer in Precinct Six. Granted, she’s only ever done one and since then has been put back on patrol, but she still bragged about it with a touch of pride.

The phone finally pinged back to life, the screen brightening up at Lizzie’s return.

LIZZIE: _…there’s 249 and a half. One cracked last Tuesday._

Amy cackled loudly, startling a bemused coyote who hadn’t seen the texting raccoon as he retrieved his Roar-a-Cola. Amy looked the mammal up and down as he wandered away, his off the peg suit firmly hugging him in all the right ways. Fizzy drinks were not the only attraction of the fourth floor as Amy leered at the coyote’s tail-end, his muscles bulging against the cashmere bled, before a ping drew her eyes away.

LIZZIE: _You still there?_

AMY: _Yeah, sorry. You still on paperwork?_

LIZZIE: _Yeah. I am so BORED! You’re so lucky you don’t have to do any of this crap._

AMY: _I think I’m meant to but that’s what being best friends with your manager is for!_

LIZZIE: _I know! You’re so lucky! I can’t just palm it off on Skye! The chief would kill me!_

AMY: _Yeah, he’s a bit of a hardass, isn’t he?_

AMY: _But anyway, as much as I love chatting shit with you, this wasn’t why I messaged you Spots._

LIZZIE: _Hey! If you can call me Spots, why can’t I call you Ames!_

AMY: _Not the same. Anyway, have you spoken to Skye recently?_

The message took a little longer to come through this time, the pulsing dots finally returning after Amy had done a little mammal watching through the window.

LIZZIE: _Not since last month. Why?_

Taking another swig of her Pupsi, a puzzled look came across Amy’s face as she quickly tapped out her reply.

AMY: _She said you asked her for fashion advice or something. Said it was with your date with that lion you’ve been pining for._

Lizzie’s reply came almost instantaneously, Amy’s phone almost pinging a little louder at its unexpectedly fast reply.

LIZZIE: _What Lion?! Pining?!?! ME?!?!?!_

LIZZIE: _I’m not pining over anyone!!!_

LIZZIE: _I have NO interest in anyone romantically anyway!_

LIZZIE: _NONE WHATSOEVER!!!!_

LIZZIE: _WHAT HAVE YOU HEARD????_

LIZZIE: _HAS TAU SAID SOMETHING????_

LIZZIE: _HAS TAU BEEN TALKING TO SKYE???_

LIZZIE: _WHAT HAS HE SAID?!?!?!?!?!?!_

While the ellipsis went again, with Lizzie apparently saving up her next message to be a monster of capital letters and burning questions, Amy finally managed to nudge her way back into the conversation.

AMY: Lizzie! Calm down! I sure you have absolutely _zero_ feelings for Tau or his big poofy mane.

Lizzie’s ellipsis vanished for a second before a new message was shot through at lightning speed.

LIZZIE: IT IS POOFY! I just want to snuggle in it! Do you think he’d let me? It looks so soft…

AMY: Lizzie, you really need to control yourself.

LIZZIE: Sorry, I just… I want to ask him out but…

AMY: Then ask him out damnit!

LIZZIE: But I’m a Snow Leopard! Plus, he’s way out of my league!

AMY: It’s the 21st century for Chrissake and this is Zootopia! No-one is gonna give a damn about you dating a lion!

AMY: Plus, that rabbit and fox have been dating for how long now? Plus inters are popping up everywhere now! It’s not weird, you know?

AMY: Oh, and by the way, have you seen yourself lately? You’re gorgeous! If Tau doesn’t ask you out, then it’s his friggin’ loss! Just ask the poofy maned damn mammal out already!

Lizzie started typing again but, having lost her patience and the last refreshing taste of her Pupsi, Amy beat her to the punch.

AMY: SO ANYWAY! To get back on track, has Skye been chatting to you about fashion?

LIZZIE: Skye? Amy, I love her, but she’s got about as much fashion sense as a lollipop lady. My dad has better fashion sense than her and you’ve seen how he dresses.

AMY: Yeah, I have *shudder*.

AMY: But she was saying you were asking her since you had a date with, and I quote, ‘that handsome lion she won’t stop talking about’.

LIZZIE: Well, she’s not wrong there. But I’ve not spoken to her in ages! Why? Is something up with her?

AMY: I dunno. But I’ll find out.

LIZZIE: Okay. Let me know when asap! I’m going back to important work now.

AMY: You’re looking at his Furbook, aren’t you?

LIZZIE: BYE AMY!

And with that, Amy finally pocketed the phone.

“Well, she’s smitten.” Amy commented as she pushed herself off the wall and headed towards the door, chucking the can into a recycling bin on her way past.

“But still, why would Skye lie to me? That’s not like her. We’ve been locked at the hip since the time we could walk. What’s so bad that she couldn’t te-”.

And just as she was about to pull the door open, a familiar glint caught the raccoon’s eye.

Pressing her clawed paw against the glass, her eyes followed the familiar shape of the silver pickup truck. Though sight was not her species forte, there wasn’t a doubt in her mind as she saw the familiar truck pull up into the unmarked space. She couldn’t see the mammal inside, but, deep down in her gut, she knew there could be no other mammal at the wheel.

“Bath and a takeaway, was it now?” Amy muttered as she watched the noticed the pickup go still as the engine was shut off, but the offending mammal remained within.

“Looks like I’m just gonna have to see what a lying vixen looks like up close now, aren’t I?” Amy smirked, already picturing the look on the vixen’s face at being caught red-pawed. “Not getting out of this bestest friend of mine.”

Pushing herself off the glass, Amy stalked through the door and headed straight for the stairs, not even bothering with the monotonously slow elevator. Practically jumping down the steps, missing two or three at a time, Amy passed the second floor and, glancing out of the window, Amy could just make out the top of the pickup’s silver body, the vision of it whipping past her eyes as Amy careened down the stairs, her body going at full tilt.

“Oh, you are so caught now Little Miss Secret Keeper!” Amy cackled as she swung as she reached the bottom of the stairwell, with only a few doorways and the ZPD carpark between them. Using the bannister to launch herself, Amy exploded through the door with all the force of a jilted lover trying to stop a wedding from taking place. Furiously, she sprinted forward, charging round the corner into the ZPD lobby.

“Oh, I can’t wait to see the look on your-”

The muttered gloating came to a rather unexpected end as Amy clattered into a white wall. A furry, white wall. A soft, furry, white wall. A very soft, furry, white wall. And this very soft, furry, white wall shot her back as is she had charged head first into a bouncy castle’s walls.

Amy didn’t even have chance to let out and “oof” as the air left her lungs and she crashed onto the polished floor, her eyes still seeing nothing but white. But then, just as sudden as the wall of white appeared, it vanished into darkness, as if the sun were in an eclipse.

“Hey, are you alright down there?”

“Wha?” Amy gurgled, her head throbbing slightly.

“I said are you alright?”

“I’m… I’m fine.” Amy replied, begin to move herself up.

“Do you need a paw? You were going nine to the dozen.”

“I said I’m fine.” Amy grunted through her teeth. She picked herself off the floor, though wincing as she rubbed the back of her head.

“You sure you’re okay? You did hit your head pretty hard. I can take you to the medic if you-”

“I told you I’m fine! Why don’t you mind your goddamn-”.

Amy finally looked up at what she hit and, if her faced went blank with surprise, she couldn’t really fault herself. Amy was at least expecting something hefty and muscular to send her sprawling like a rag doll. A wolf or a tiger or something. A well-toned lynx at the very least. Something with bulk under the ridiculously soft and furry exterior. But this was none of those things.

Stood before was the very antithesis of tall, broad, and muscular. Amy’s brown eyes looked up with unhidden surprise at a petite skunk, with soft curves in place of hard angular abs. Taking her in, she could see where she saw the white, her blouse as white as virgin snow and her fur as dark as black hole.

Looking from her head downwards, Amy’s head stopped as she got to what was her eye level. However, it wasn’t quite eye level for the skunk in question.

“Well, I guess that explains why it was soft.” Amy internally cringed, getting an eyeful of the skunk’s obvious feminine points. Despite both skunks and raccoons being fairly sleek creatures, this one seemed to be, at least so far as she could guess, particularly well-endowed.

“My eyes are up here, Lightning.”

Amy’s eyes immediately zoomed back up to the skunk’s face, her fur concealing a hot blush. The skunk wore a smug, if not a tiny bit embarrassed, look as she readjusted her slightly rumpled clothing.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to… Lightning?”

The skunk chuckled. “Well, you came out of nowhere and disappeared just as quick. Kind of remind me of lightning!”

“Yeah, sure.” Amy gave the skunk a proper once over as she giggled at her little joke. Her fur, though clearly groomed, had been ruffled by either a long day at work, colliding with Amy, or both. Her headfur bobbing slightly as she giggled, Amy could clearly see her forest green eyes fluttering behind her long lashes. Her laugh was minimal with tinges of girly sweetness compared to Amy’s own admitted loud and boisterous belly laughs that had mammals from half a mile looking around in bewilderment as to where the sound had come from.

All in all, outwardly at least, she antithesis to Amy.

“Anyway,” Amy continued as the skunk’s mirth diminished. “Are you okay? I did hit you pretty hard.”

“No damage as far as I can see,” she chuckled, giving herself a last once over before wincing a little as she lightly prodded her chest. “Though ramming into me head first might leave a bruise.”

Amy’s cheeks flushed again as the skunk chuckled again even louder.

“Hey, I’m just kidding! I’m fine. Didn’t even feel a thing.”

“Yeah, I bet you didn’t…” Amy snarked under breath.

“Sorry, what?”

“Nothing!” Amy snapped back, keen to not let her thoughts on her particulars resurface. “Anyway, sorry I barged into you and everything, but I gotta go.”

Amy made to move past the skunk, her attention looking over to where Skye had been standing before she was stopped dead in her tracks by a paw clasping her shoulder.

“Hey,” the skunk’s paw turned the diminutive raccoon round, her brows slightly furrowed in concern. “In all seriousness, you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine,” Amy remarked curtly, feebly trying to free herself from Lola’s grasp. “Takes a lot more than that to take me down. Now, can you leave off?”

The skunk’s eyes still held a worried look, but her paw relaxed on the procyon’s shoulder. It was a little weird, the skunk’s paw pads feeling strangely soothing.

“Thanks for caring and stuff,” Amy said, shrugging the paw off of her. “But I gotta get going.”

“Alright,” the skunk conceded, seemingly content that the raccoon hadn’t hurt herself. “Just take care of yourself Lightning. Don’t want you clacking your head on the floor too often.”

“You really sticking with the Lightning line?” Amy chided, before her hackles settled. “But yeah, thanks for making sure I’m alright.”

“Well that’s good, wouldn’t want a sweet little thing like you getting hurt.”

Amy’s face filled up like a loading bar, full of red embarrassment and disbelief.

The skunk giggled. “Have a nice day then Ms. Maskburn.”

“You, wha? Err, yeah, sure, you too Ms…Hey! How’d you know my name?”

But it was useless. The skunk disappeared into the crowd of larger mammals, most of whom had only paying enough attention not to accidentally step onto them and the others only paying cursory attention to the outwardly minor incident.

“Weird.” Amy thought, standing in place for a second as she looked out to where the skunk vanished.

“Shit!” Amy thought, swivelling on her heel and dashing towards the ZPD’s revolving doors, before an all too familiar voice called out to her as she passed the reception desk.

“Oh, hey Amy!” he called cheerily, oblivious to being in a rush as he scoffed on another gaudily coloured doughnut. “Have you seen the new Gazelle app? It’s super good!”

Stopping in her tracks, Clawhauser leaned his portly belly over the counter and shoved his phone, nearly half the size of the raccoon herself, into her face. A janky Gazelle in danced in glorious 16-bit quality as she enticed her fanbase into playing yet another of her seemingly endless stream of phone games. It was a wonder she sang at all, given the proclivity, and popularity, of her licensed games.

“It’s so good!” Clawhauser squealed, shaking the phone as he did. “She’s gone all retro and it’s a platforming rhythm game! And I thought _Gazelle Dance Mania_ was the peak! Is there anything she can’t do?”

“Clawhauser,” Amy asked pointedly, pushing the phone out of the way and glaring up at the cheetah. “As much as I love you, and your passion for all things Gazelle, I just don’t have time for this right now. Did Skye come in here at all?”

“Skye? Didn’t she leave ages ago? She’s got a half day! Lucky. I’d kill to get some time off. The Gazelle Wiki won’t update itself, you know.”

“So, she hasn’t come in then?”

Clawhauser fished another donut from his near emptying box. “Not that I’ve seen, no. Why, is she meant to be meeting up with you or something?”

“No, well, not with me at any rate,” Amy muttered glumly to herself. “She’s been very tight-lipped about it. So, anyway I gotta-”

The eep that emitted from the cheetah was so high pitched that it threatened to shatter glass.

“Skye’s meeting someone and she’s being all secretive?!” Clawhauser gleefully squealed. “She’s _totally_ going out with someone! I bet you my whole box of doughnuts on it!”

“You don’t have any doughnuts.” Amy pointed out, the box sitting in his desk now just filled with crumbs and the occasional sprinkle. After looking a little downcast at his depleted box of decorated delicacies, Clawhauser pressed on, his voice rising like a wave.

“Well, my next box then! But I’m telling you Amy, Skye’s finally found a mammal! I never thought it’d happen with the way she sucker-punched all those other guys! You think she’s found a tod or something? D’you think we know him? Or her? Or they? Or whatever? D’you think they work here? Why else would she come here? She’s picking someone up! Oh, I’m so going over all of our security footage to see if I can who the lucky mammal is! I can’t wait to tell-”

“Clawhauser!” Amy bellowed in a way Bogo would have been proud of, making the cheetah recoil into himself. “Just, for five seconds, stop it, would you?”

Giving herself a moment to breath, paws kneading her brow in minor frustration, Amy continued.

“We can’t be sure if Skye is seeing anyone. We don’t even know there’s an anyone to begin with. This might all be completely innocent, though she isn’t helping herself with all her secrecy. But whatever all this is, I’ll be damned if I’m not gonna find out. So please, for once in your life, keep schtum!”

It was only then that Amy realised she was up on the tips of her paws, had somehow clambered onto Clawhauser’s desk, and had him pulled into her face by his tie. The result was a very terrified cat and a few curious and worried looks dotted around the room.

“And if you do this,” Amy commented in a low voice. “I’ll get you some doughnuts.”

With the deal literally sweetened, the cheetah emphatically nodded, with Amy relinquishing the feline’s tie.

“Yes ma’am!” Clawhauser saluted in reply. “Not a word of gossip will pass these fangs! No siree!”

Though highly doubting it, Amy took his word for it and sped out the door, hoping that the fox was still hanging around for a dollop of intense questioning.

“D’you want me to send you a link for the game?” Clawhauser cried out.

“Yeah!” Amy shouted back.

“Fox hunt now, Gazelle later.” Amy thought, a slight tinge of embarrassment sprouting in her mind.

Crashing through the revolving glass door, Amy’s head spun around in all directions before her ears perked up and her head turned, just in time to see Skye’s truck driving off into the distance.

“Bugger!” Amy cursed emphatically, drawing the attention of a few passing mammals for a few moments before they carried on with their day.

“Okay. My fault. Kept getting distracted,” Amy chided herself. “But, if you think you can keep secrets from Amy Maskburn for long, you’ve got another thing coming.

Heading out of the car park and towards the nearby subway entrance, a devious smirk played across her muzzle.

 “This is going to be fun.”


End file.
